A Canadian soccer team that brings together people affected by the lack of housing, mental health struggles and substance abuse will go to the World Cup for homeless in August, an experience that some players say they never thought it would be available.
The Canadian Street Soccer Association (CSSA), founded last year, is sending a team of eight players to Oslo, Norway, where they will compete with more than 500 players around the world.
“We are not looking for the best players in football, we are not looking for the best strategists in football,” said Hossam Khedr, the CEO of the organization.
“What we do is that we use football as a simple tool to unite people.”
The World Cup for Homeless is an annual tournament that began in 2003, according to its website. It currently has members from 68 countries.
On Saturday, the CSSA celebrated a national tournament in Mississauga, organizing players of their programs in Toronto, Brampton, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.
“For some of these players who travel from Montreal to come to Mississauga, to be part of this national tournament, it will be like its World Cup,” said Ed Kiwanuka-Qinlan, director of Operations of CSSA, speaking with CBC Radio’s Metro tomorrow on Friday.
The CSSA, which is a non -profit organization directed by volunteers, recruits the players through the dissemination in the streets and to associate with the Canadian Mental Health Association, which refers to possible players, he said.
Kiwanuka-Quinlan called the tournament for a recovery and inclusion celebration.
“We encourage [players] Do not think of all the other trauma, all the other problems that are happening in their lives, and only to come and kick a ball, have fun and sweat, “he said.
Find ‘another family’ through football
Among the players of the Saturday tournament was Emma “Zero” Bellante, who will go to Oslo in August. She said she has fought with mental health problems, addiction and discouragement.
“This program has really helped me a lot in terms of leaving the house and not isolating me,” he said.
Bellante played football throughout his childhood, but said the sport became less fun and felt like a task.
Playing through CSSA is “as a completely different game,” he said.
“There are many applause, breath, people who are encouraged,” he said.
Bellante said he never thought he would have the opportunity to play in an international football tournament.
“It is an opportunity that I would never have passed, despite the fact that I am very nervous, but it is mixed with emotion,” he said.
The players chosen to go to the World Cup for homeless people were partly selected if they are going through a “transition moment,” Khedr said, as if they were recovering from addictions or mental health struggles.
The trip to the World Cup “will take them to a different place, and that is when we prepare them for the next step to return to our society when they return,” he said.
That Nakintu also joined the Saturday tournament. After moving from Uganda in January 2024, he saw a poster on the CSSA in the shelter where he stayed in Toronto.
She said she was immediately welcomed by the group.
“I felt at home. I felt that I had another family,” he said Metro tomorrow.
Nakintu was recently certified by Canada Soccer as a referee, under the breath and orientation of Kiwanuka-Quinlan.
Another player, César Lobos, moved to Canada from Guatemala 41 years ago. After fighting with the lack of housing and substance abuse, he was initially attracted to the CSSA to get shape.
Participating in football games “gave me some energy, some breath to get out of the street,” he said.
“Now I’m not homeless, I have my own apartment and life is beautiful.”
Lobos, who addresses Oslo in August, called the trip a “dream of Cinderella.” It will be the first time he travels since he moved to Canada, he said.
“Value is needed to get out of that circle of life. But then, when you are on the right path, the right way … This is like a dream come true,” he said.
