At the 2025 Homeless World Cup in Oslo, Australia’s Street Socceroos made us proud: kicking goals, eating waffles and throwing shapes on the football field and the dancefloor.
With an opening parade that wove its way through Oslo’s streets – so long, so loud, so colourful, and so celebratory that it stopped traffic, locals and tourists alike – the 2025 Homeless World Cup was something of a mic drop of a tournament.
Featuring more than 500 players and 63 teams from 48 countries and no less than four – yes, four – marching bands, the vibrant parade was led by host nation Norway, with the home team’s players fitted out with red, white and blue uniforms replete with Viking helmets. Australia’s Homeless World Cup team, the Street Socceroos, followed soon after. “We walked through the centre of Oslo, carrying our banner and walking with pride,” says Rachel, one of the team’s eight members. “Everyone was waving, and I met beautiful people.” Their green and gold uniforms and yellow inflatable kangaroo mascots Jack and Tilly were like a magnet for Australian expats, who sought the team out and started photographing and filming.
Our team comprised players who represented Australia’s geographic spread and population diversity, as well as the complex causes of homelessness and marginalisation: Ray from Melbourne, Sean from Adelaide, Will from Geelong, Rachel from Brisbane, Danny from Caboolture, Mish from Perth, Lesley from Alice Springs and Joseph from Wollongong. Australia has been a staple of the Homeless World Cup for many of the tournament’s two decades, with the Street Socceroos participating under the stewardship of long-term coach George Halkias. “I think we all surprised ourselves,” Mish reports. “It was great to see the team as a whole, how much we were sticking to George’s advice and getting better.” One of her personal highlights was a sneaky goal she made against Spain, “just a little tap into the net” – she admits that she rewatches this moment a lot.
Further down the multi-coloured procession, the South African team, known for its a cappella singing and dancing, serenaded a bride and groom who happened to get caught in the parade. The Mexican team wore wrestling masks and struck lucha libre poses; the Italian team dressed as gladiators heading to battle in the Colosseum; the Indian team wore crisp white saris and flower garlands to demonstrate respect. The engagement went both ways. On spotting the Indonesian team, one proud waiter ran out of their workplace to join in and shout, “Indo-nee-siaaa!” The expressions of passing children turned to awe and joy as the Street Socceroos handed out clip-on koala souvenirs.
Arriving at the tournament stands at Rådhuspladsen, the square adjacent to the statuesque city hall where Nobel Peace Prizes are annually awarded, the teams were met with a dance-party atmosphere. Famous Norwegian DJ Matoma played bangers, ably supported by Robbie Tolson and JohnBoy of the social enterprise Turn the Tables – a UK-based collective that uses music to change the lives of people affected by mental illness, crime, poverty and homelessness.
The stands were a high-intensity sea of colour and movement as teams in their national kits waved their country’s flag and danced. Oslo Mayor Anne Lindboe told the packed stands that “… too many people lack a safe home and there is much work to do. We stand with you. Players, you inspire us.” Then she extended an invitation that was met with a resounding roar: “Are you ready to play?”
The Homeless World Cup came about through a conversation at a street paper conference, when participants realised that nobody with actual lived experience of homelessness was present. The organisers rectified that by launching this deceptively simple summit, using the language barrier-transcending world game to tackle homelessness and social exclusion.
The 2025 event was the Homeless World Cup’s 20th iteration, and Oslo’s second time hosting after the 2017 Cup. Since that first tournament played out in 2003 in Graz, Austria, with a handful of mostly European and UK-based teams, it’s only ever been paused during COVID. The life-changing event’s size and scale has grown exponentially, too, from those initial few teams to hundreds of players from across the world. The party grows year on year, and this year Kaytetye man Lesley represented another special milestone: he’s the first‑ever Street Socceroo representative from the Northern Territory.
Originally from Tennant Creek, Lesley moved to Alice Springs when he was six and has been sleeping rough or at relatives’ places for much of the time since. At the games, he painted his face and hands with designs that emit strength. He also took to the freshly cooked waffles the Norwegian local organisers were supplying – so much so that the Australian supporters arranged a stacked waffle “cake” to mark the 19th birthday he celebrated during the tournament.
Teammate Joseph’s story is another that traverses the globe. Now Wollongong-based, Joseph originally hailed from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He and his family lived in a Ugandan refugee camp for over a decade before he was resettled in Australia. Coincidentally, two of his brothers were resettled in Norway. One of them took a seven-hour overnight train trip from his new home of Trondheim in Norway’s north to visit Joseph in Oslo.
Individually and collectively, experience of homelessness, mental health challenges and/or social exclusion brought the players to The Big Issue’s Community Street Soccer Program and, in turn, the Homeless World Cup. “I was in a bit of a slump before Oslo,” says Rachel, “and on the way home from it I was feeling sad that I won’t have the structure and bubble that we’ve been in together.” That feeling has levelled out, the defender says, into pure invigoration. “I have a new lease on life.”
Mish, too, credits her Homeless World Cup experience with inspiring “a level of confidence I’d been praying for…of accepting myself, and knowing that I can tackle a lot more than I think I can.”
The Street Socceroos didn’t make the finals, but were ultimately awarded the FIFPRO Fair Play Award on the tournament’s final day for exemplary tournament conduct, both on and off the field. One supporter congratulated the team on winning the tournament’s most important award. “We celebrate all the big goals that one doesn’t see on the scoreboard,” Halkias told his team. “Irrespective of games won, we’ve won respect.”
At the tournament’s end, Egypt and Uganda became the first African teams to ever reach the finals, let alone win the mixed and women’s tournaments, breaking Mexico’s decade-long grip. (They might get their revenge next year, when Mexico City hosts the 2026 Homeless World Cup.) Not even a couple of days of soaking rain could dampen players’ spirits, and the tournament finished how it started: with all 500 players dancing, singing and playing football, as DJs kept the vibes high by playing absolute bangers.
By Fiona Crawford @AGirl CalledFred
Fiona Crawford is a writer, editor and researcher whose work includes social and environmental issues and football. She is the author of The Matilda Effect and The Rise of the Matildas.
Pictures by Anita Milas
Published in ed#745
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