It is the world cup of soccer. The stands are full, and fans can’t contain themselves. They look out onto the pitch and beg for their country to sink one more goal. Looking down, you can’t recognise the players exactly, but you could mistake one of them for Beckham as he curves the ball. Yet, you’d be fooled. These players are not the million dollar heroes that grace the sports pages. No, these players are homeless.

Welcome to the Homeless World Cup. Each year, 73 countries join together a national team, all made up of homeless men and women and duke it out around the world. It’s a chance to remove the homeless label, put on a jersey and become a player. That is the aim of the Homeless World Cup. In Australia, there are teams all over.

Meeting every week, the stigma of homelessness leaves them for a couple of hours as they kick a football around. “To be honest, I was very arrogant of homelessness. I had strong views of what a homeless man was,” says Homeless World Cup referee Hary Milas. Hary’s view isn’t unique. In his work for the Homeless World Cup, he’s definitely learnt the truth of how people find themselves in these situations and worked past the stigma.

Starting as a referee for the Melbourne leg of the World Cup in 2008, Hary made sure to keep the bond going. He’s now travelled the world, most recently in Mexico for the 2012 Cup. The program is sponsored by the Big Issue in Australia and involves a mentoring program along with friendly competition, all the while giving them some regularity and something to look forward to each week. National Coach and mentor, George Halkias has been on board since it’s inception in Australia around 2005, and has seen just what the program can do. Even the weekly routine is enough to make a change in their lives.

“The primary function is to give them something stable, week in week out. Something stable, something constant that’s going to be there for them, to support them and motivate them,” he says. George says even the smallest change can make a difference and get them out of the cycle of homelessness. Something like increasing their self-esteem or being able to communicate more confidently, even looking at someone in the eye when they talk is a big step.

The key areas they work on is in housing, their employment, their training and their participation in sport. For Hary, his tour around the world has opened his eyes to the plight of the homeless globally. During his refereeing in the Italian World Cup finals, he spotted a player on the South African team. “He made a very big impression on me because he had very harsh looking face, and he had the word ‘Jonathan’ tattooed across his forehead,” he says. “After I refereed him and gave him an encouragement award, I took him aside and asked him about his life and asked him why he had the word so blatantly tattooed across his head.

He told me the name on his forehead was his brother’s and in a drunken rage over a pack of cigarettes he killed his brother. He wanted to be reminded every time he looked in the mirror of his brother’s memory and of what he’d done.” Hary has seen him in two more Homeless World Cups and has found out that he looks after young people with homelessness and drug problems, and helps them by sharing his story. The link of sport has opened up the players to a group that isn’t judgmental, that isn’t there to dob them in or isn’t there to offer band-aid help.

It is a place to play a bit of football, have a chat with peers and get pointed in the right direction about services available to them. The national team that gets picked each year isn’t necessarily the team that wins the finals, but is rather a hand picked team from all the players in Australia. It means that players who may not have performed as well as they hoped but showed the best attitude, best attendance and commitment get the place. It’s something Hary loves to encourage when he’s on the pitch.

Every year, Hary gives out a special whistle to a team member that shows the best attitude. “I give it to a special person who may not be the world’s most talented player but a player that supports his position and encourages everyone and has a smile on their face,” he says. In the Mexico World Cup, he gave out 82 whistles. One person in particular was so touched by his gift that it left a mark on Hary.

“To have somebody in a uniform give him something to thank him for making a difference to him as a referee made a very big impression on him,” he says.

On top of his work for the Homeless World Cup, George also goes around to schools and corporations to better inform people on the homeless, mental health issues and remove the stigma. George is especially thankful for the Homeless World Cup not just because he gets to help people, but because he met his wife at one of the matches. Coincidence would have it that she was working as a volunteer at one of the matches, and now, after a few years, they have a little baby on the way. For Hary, the Homeless World Cup has changed him for good.

“The Homeless World Cup, and homelessness and homeless people themselves have made me a better person. They’ve made me understand humanity just that little bit more,” he says. There are 100 million homeless people in the world today and effects every nation.

The Australian final will be in January 2013. To show your support go to www.homelessworldcup.org