The competition aims to raise awareness of global child homelessness.
With just over one month left until the glitzy
2018 FIFA World Cup, Russia is hosting an altogether different kind of football
tournament. Its stars are orphans, have been abandoned by their parents or come
from extreme poverty. The Street Child World Cup is traditionally held in the host
country of the World Cup a month before its bigger brother to shine a light on
the global social issue of youth homelessness.
Since its launch in South Africa in 2010, it has
traveled to Brazil and now to Russia, a country of some 55,000 registered orphans,
according to official statistics.The
participants — 230 boys and girls from 21 countries aged 14 to 17 — will
compete in a six-day tournament followed by a congress on the rights of street
youth. They come from countries as far and wide as Bolivia, Liberia, former
Soviet Union countries and the United States.
