Homeless World Cup
The Homeless World Cup kicks off in Oslo on Tuesday 28 August until 5 September and PFA Ireland were on hand to present the Men’s and Women’s team with their Joma footwear before they flew out to the tournament.
It’s the first time the Women will be represented at the event but the Men’s team are off the back of a successful tournament last year in Glasgow where they won the Plate section and a 9th place finish overall out of 48 entries.
Each team consists of a squad of 8 players with each match being 4 a side. Players can only play in one tournament so it’s a whole new squad every year which means the form book goes out the window.
In charge of the Men’s team is former PFA Ireland member and ex St. Patrick’s Athletic and Shelboune midfielder Tommy Morgan.
Tomy said,”We would like to thank PFA Ireland for their donation of Joma footwear to all the players and staff. It is the second year they have contributed and it’s hugely appreciated and beneficial to both squads.”
On the game front he said,”Preparations have gone really well and are hopeful of making it into the last 16 and you never know from there. With the nature of the tournament and all the squads being brand new, we just never know what we are up against until we see a few of the games but the players are prepared and are really looking forward to it.”
PFA Ireland General Secretary, Stephen McGuinness commented,”We are delighted to be involved with the Homeless World Cup teams for a second year and to provide them with top quality footwear for the tournament. FIFPro have encouraged all unions to support their own Homeless World Cup teams and I travelled to Glasgow myself last year and witnessed first hand what a fantastic tournament it is. The positivity around and the benefits to the players involved cannot be understated and we wish both the Irish teams the very best of luck in Oslo.”
The Men’s team are in Group F along with Netherlands, France, Hungary, Senegal and India with the Women in Group B along side Mexico, Netherlands, Wales and Greece. Graham Tucker is in charge of the Women’s team and is hoping for a strong showing from the squad in their first appearance.
You can follow the progress of the teams, get all the information and view live streaming of games on the Homeless World Cup website at https://homelessworldcup.org/oslo-2017/
You can also follow things on twitter @homelesswrldcup with the Irish updates from @IrishStLeague.