2006
Cape Town
South AFrica
8 days
496 plAyers
48 Countries

The fourth Homeless World Cup took place in Cape Town, South Africa, with Russia overpowering newcomers Kazakhstan in an entertaining final on the city’s famous Grand Parade. The two finalists may have surprised some people, but this was a tournament of surprises.

One of those was an address given by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, addressing the crowd he said: “Everyone should have a home. It is a right, not a privilege. People treat the homeless as if they’re sub-human. In order to overcome this discrimination, we have to unite against homelessness as we did when we fought apartheid.”

Image: Breanna Bales-Smith/Icon Image

Of the 27 teams ranked from last year’s event in Edinburgh only two – Poland and Russia – made it to the final stage of the Homeless World Cup Trophy. Mexico – making their tournament debut – finished in fourth place.

Over 300 games were played producing a staggering amount of goals. Fans were treated to over 1,800 goals – meaning an average (not including the excitement of penalty shoot-outs) of more than six goals per match. As every game at the Homeless World Cup must have a winner matches that are tied at full time go to a sudden-death shoot-out. 124 goals were scored in these shoot-outs in Cape Town.

In total the 48 nations (a Homeless World Cup record) were represented by 496 players. As temperatures soared the players consumed 12,000 litres of water and 10,000 bananas during the event.

270 volunteers stepped forward to help the Homeless World Cup in Cape Town – over 120 of them were on duty every day. The volunteers were needed to make sure that everything ran smoothly, with the eyes of the world on Cape Town as 250 members of the international media descended on Grand Parade. The press pack included South Africa’s SABC who showed the final live on television – another Homeless World Cup first.

We also welcomed professional footballers Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand, watch the video below where they talk about how football can transform lives.

A unique feature of the Homeless World Cup tournament is that regardless of ability, all teams compete for the same number of days. The competition breaks into a number of different trophies. Because of these levels of competitions, the games are exciting and meaningful even on the final day of the tournament. On the last day, each team earns their final position – and those standings then influence the rankings that will seed next year’s tournament.

There are a total of six trophies for the competition. The Homeless World Cup is the top prize.