On the way to the Soccer World Cup of the homeless

The atmosphere was relaxed. Moreover, the faces displayed large smiles during the last training in Montreal before the big departure. However,

For the first time, three Quebecers will participate in the Soccer World Cup of the homeless with the Canadian team. However, This 20th edition will take place in Oslo, Norway, from August 23 to 30.

For the lucky ones, this trip is the icing on the Sunday. Meanwhile, It all started last December with the creation of a soccer activity organized by the Maison du Père. For example, the Canadian Association of Street Soccer.

Every Wednesday. However, people in homelessness are invited to type in the ball to get out of a daily life that is not always tender.

A breath of fresh air for Daniel Théberge. In addition, goalkeeper of the Canadian team, who was way soccer world cup homeless in a very precarious situation. In addition, It’s a real happiness. Similarly, it’s constructive, I loved my experience and I came back every weekhe says, with a large smile.

This father has reintegrated stable accommodation for a month. Similarly, it is a bit thanks to the soccer, which, he says, gave him well-being Physics, psychological and socialwithout counting the flashy in the back of social stakeholders on the sidelines of the project.

There are leaders who believed in us and it is essentialhe concludes.

Same enthusiasm for Fabrice Mugabe who appreciated physical effort and team spiritbut also discipline and supervision that he needed.

After a long crossing of the desert caused by the Pandemic of Covid-19. For example, he has just found a roof and a job. For example, I work, I manage, I way soccer world cup homeless travel, so there are a lot of changes, new adventures and it feels good.

For César Lobos, the third Montreal player to go to Norway, this trip is a deliverance. In addition, He comes to punctuate nine years of an unstable lifeincluding two where he slept in the street. Consequently, rubbed shoulders with suffering.

Since childhood, soccer has been a passion. Nevertheless, He grew up marveling in front of the World Cups on TV and the dribbles of Diego Maradona. This fiftieth anniversary has just made a beautiful legs of legs against fate by integrating accommodation in the last. few weeks.

There is always a passion that we have since childhood. the soccer has awakened all this, to give this chance to perform and persevere.

Soccer is a collective sport, such as the fight against precariousness, and all three have a thought for the benevolent staff of the father’s house.

Open in full screen

Way soccer world cup homeless

Sport as a tool for social way soccer world cup homeless reintegration

The Soccer activity is overseen by Mathieu Lefebvre. coordinator at the accommodation center in accommodation and referencing at the Maison du Père.

This soccer lover has improvised coach for the occasion. he is satisfied to see that participants take great pleasure and they gained confidence.

It also retains the unifying side which caused meetings. during training, with police, tourists, young people in the neighborhood and many others.

The CEO. Jaëlle Bégarin, has been supporting reintegration programs around sports for several years such as boxing or hockey. From 12 participants in the Soccer activity, almost all of them today have temporary or permanent accommodation. They benefited in parallel from different reintegration programs.

Roaming is a situation, not an identity.

Participants are recognized as talented people and it changes everything in their way of life and their way of mobilizing, she maintains. This approach should not be released because it is effective.

She finds that the beneficial effects of sport are multiple. It is a source of motivation. it fights the effects of depression and allows you to reclaim a body often suffering in the street.

Finally, she said, these activities erase the effects of the stigma felt by the pre which. On the ground. the other members of the host club did not suspect the situation of the protégés of the father’s house.

Open in full screen

Before the departure ceremony. the city councilor, Robert Beaudry, made a hook to encourage the Quebec delegation and This beautiful project. Mr. Beaudry has worked for fifteen years in the world. he is now responsible for the homelessness file in the City of Montreal, which financially supports the organization.

He encourages federal. provincial governments to give the means to community organizations to way soccer world cup homeless implement these agile projects which are out of the ordinary.

A message relayed by Jaëlle Bégarin, who hopes to extend different emergency programs in 2026. At the height of the crisis, in 2023-2024, several non-recurring envelopes were distributed to community organizations.

Open in full screen

Way soccer world way soccer world cup homeless cup homeless

A competition to play. but above all to live

Forty male teams and 23 women, from 48 countries, are qualified for the Sans-Abri World Cup in Oslo.

According to Mathieu Lefebvre, the personal journey of the players was the main selection factor. The participants were chosen for their strength of character. their attitude, their reintegration process and their ability to benefit from this experience.

Unsurprisingly, for the three Montreal players, the sports results come to the background. For Daniel, going to Europe is a dream that is realized and the voyage of a lifetime. Fabrice admits laughing that he sometimes thinks of victory, but his main objective remains s’amuser.

As for Caesar, he has soared abroad for the first time since September 15, 1983. It is a significant date way soccer world cup homeless in his personal history, that of his arrival in Quebec as a political refugee. He fled his native Guatemala during the civil war, at the age of 10. His getaway in Norway allows him, he said, to see further and to say that life is beautiful.