The Homeless World Cup 2025: United by Football, Driven by Change

IOL News

3 days ago

Team South Africa at the Homeless World Cup in Seoul 2024.
Image: Source: Homeless World Cup
Norway 2025: Oslo's Anniversary Tournament
The 2025 Homeless World Cup marks its 20th anniversary as the tournament returns to Oslo, Norway, from August 23 to 31.
With our very own national team competing this year, South Africa's Homeless World Cup squad is a force to be reckoned with as we prepare to send off a formidable team with hopes of not only returning with the trophy but, more importantly, bringing our nation's pride to the tournament's core message: to foster social change by challenging perceptions and addressing the realities of housing insecurity on a global scale.
Norway is no stranger to the Homeless World Cup, having successfully hosted the event in 2017. This year's return marks a significant milestone, allowing the world to reflect on the past two decades of the transformative impact made by the competition.
Oslo's Rådhusplassen (City Hall Square) prepares this year's stage for yet another thrilling competition.
2025 Homeless World Cup
Image: Homeless World Cup Artwork
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Witness the Journey
On Sunday, August 21, 2025, our inspiring South African team departs for Oslo. The journey to Norway is more than just competing in a football tournament; it is a life-changing opportunity for the remarkable eight.
This year's South African squad includes the following eight individuals: Waseem Jacobs, Gift Valtyn, Marvin Windvogel, Bly Chitja, Simcelile Gxoyiya, Dylan Esau, Niyaaz Adriaanse, and Luthando Sibulelo Fuyani.
The invaluable support of OASIS, a dedicated, long-serving non-profit organisation, has made this year's journey to Oslo for Team South Africa possible.
Waseem Jacobs
Marvin Windvogel
Simcelile Gxoyiya
Niyaaz Andriaanse
Gift Valtyn
Bly Chitja
Dylan Esau
Luthando Fuyani
Image source: Africa Experience
Africa Experience stands as the main corporate sponsor.
OASIS: Nurturing Youth Hope
At the core of Team South Africa's journey is the organisation OASIS, which has for decades nurtured hope and provided many pathways to stability. 'Cliffy' Clifford Martinus, a key figure at OASIS, reflected on the organic growth and the purpose that drives their mission.
"Whatever you've seen and whatever you've admired since your arrival, we still don't know how it was all knitted together," Martinus told IOL. "So it's not like we sat in a boardroom and plotted and planned this thing."
Martinus highlighted the organisation's evolution over the past 25 years, sharing that it has come together in the hands of God.
OASIS provides safe and empowering environments, deeply impacting vulnerable youth who face housing insecurity in its many forms.
Cliffy Clifford Martinus - Oasis Founder
Image: OASIS
At OASIS, the environment felt joyous after a week of storms here in Cape Town. And at the time, the children were on school holiday, playing on an extremely well-maintained pitch. The facilities at OASIS underscore the small, yet crucial difference OASIS makes.
Martinus affirmed this mission: "When I played in little Sunday league football, we started this club among a few friends. And the football, we were able to invite the clients that I used to work with on the streets in town."
Martinus emphasised that OASIS's work is driven by genuine impact, not self-promotion.
"We don't want to go and gloat and gloat. Yeah, there's no glorification. People will raise your banner because of what you do. And that's been what it's been. And we need more organisations that are less of self and more of others."
He also stressed the preventative role OASIS plays for the youth: "What you see today is because of those investments, those years... this is the simplest and the least we can offer. And it's a safe space."
While on-field action is central to the Homeless World Cup's mission, an extension of its initiative is its various off-field activities. These initiatives create an atmosphere around the tournament that evokes a powerful spirit of fair play, mutual respect, and international unity through camaraderie.
Oslo 2025
In Oslo, the South African players will not only showcase their footballing talent in the high-energy, rolling-substitution format but will also engage in a range of vital workshops and educational sessions focusing on crucial life skills, health and wellness, and opportunities for personal growth and development.
This holistic approach of the Homeless World Cup, designed to build confidence and offer pathways towards long-term integration into society, utilises football as the catalyst, setting the atmosphere that transcends national differences.
For the South African team, going there and raising our nation's flag is the beginning of a powerful message which speaks for South Africans' global progress within an economic crisis, and a housing crisis that has directly affected a large majority of South African individuals facing housing insecurity.
Coach Bobo: From Player to Mentor
Former South African Homeless World Cup player and the captain of the 2012 Homeless World Cup Team in Mexico, Coach Bongani "Bobo" Mathiso spoke about how the World Cup is most transformative and restorative, in powerful justice. His experience in Mexico was "great, an eye-opener," he reminisced.
He emphasised the tournament's commitment to personal development: "HWC is another world... there's life skills involved.
"There's a discussion everywhere. There are forums. People, alongside the matches, speak. You get to have the people who are watching talk to the players, to hear their life stories."
Coach Bongani Mathiso
Image: OASIS REACH FOR YOUR DREAMS
Coach Bobo further explained that for the journey experienced by the players, from local selection to the global stage.
"You're not just picked up from the street. You are being educated, you are being given life skills. You are being given tools in life."
He underscored that the selection process goes beyond footballing ability, focusing on individuals who truly desire change.
Coach Bobo further elaborated on the complex realities often overlooked for many South African youth who experience conditions of not having a "home".
"You will find out that a boy stays in an informal settlement, for example, or he stays in a township, a shack; one needs to go on a home visit to see if luxuries are lying between the well-being of the child who sees the sunrise, and may not even come home. But when you go to his house, you always find out the parents are saying he's not at home... So if you can check that, or you can look at it with a broader mind, it shows you that the house or the home has become like a shelter."
The Rules, the Format, the Fun: Let's play some four-a-side soccer
Homeless World Cup matches feature four players from participating nations competing four-a-side, with each nation's squad comprising eight players for depth and flexibility. The players play matches over two seven-minute halves, guaranteeing high energy and constant, intense engagement.
Rolling substitutions create a unique style of play, unlike the limited substitutions in traditional football. Teams rotate their players freely and consistently throughout, allowing for strategic rotations and ensuring that every member of the eight-person squad gains playing time and experiences what the World Cup has to offer.
Coach Bobo described the format as "a lot of fun" but stressed its dual purpose, indicating that alongside the enjoyment, there was "a lot of learning" involved for the players. He noted the strategic nature of the quick games: "It's just the game has to be quick, it has to be intense... within that 14 minutes, you have to do what you have to do."
This format, he explained, keeps the players constantly engaged and demands quick thinking.
Homeless World Cup Returns to Oslo for its 20th Anniversary
Image: Source: Daniel Lipinski / Homeless World Cup
Oslo 2025 Send-Off
As August approaches, Oslo prepares to highlight how a simple game can contribute to profound human dignity and social inclusion. The competition is a life-changing chapter for the remarkable eight travelling to Norway.
This year's competition gains further exposure, directly benefiting each player, with FIFA's involvement contributing to the competition being streamed.
"I think with the involvement of FIFA, they signed a memorandum of understanding," coach Bongani Mathiso said, with the matches being available on FIFA Plus.
This greatly improves the access fans have to watch their nations compete for Homeless World Cup glory.
The journey to Norway is deeply personal for each player. "For each player on the team, there will be a unique experience, a unique challenge," Coach Bongani Mathiso told IOL. "They each have a unique something they want to come out of it for themselves. The doors of opportunity that it can open are truly amazing."
The team departs for Oslo, Norway, on Sunday, August 17, 2025, from Cape Town International Airport at 7pm.
The team's send-off event will take place on August 17 at 4pm at UWC before going to Cape Town International Airport, with Best Choice Catering providing support, and Viva Con Agua, a dedicated friend to OASIS's 'Reach for Your Dreams' initiative.
Cliffy Martinus and Coach Bobo have invited South Africans to show their support and give the team a proper send-off.
"When they go to the airport, we want people to come and show their appreciation for the players."