Tampere will host the football Homeless World Cup 2020

Every country can apply to send a men's/mixed and a women's team

The Finnish city of Tampere announced that it will host the 18^th Homeless World Cup in summer 2020. The week-long tournament will take place from 28 June to 6 July at Ratina stadium.

The rules of the sport event stipulate that eligible players must be over 16 years of age and currently in drug or alcohol rehabilitation programmes and/or have been homeless at some point in the past 2 years. Street paper vendors and asylum seekers with a residency status or without asylum status are also welcome to take part in the teams. Eventually 8 players will be appointed to a national team, based on their level of commitment, personal attitude and sporting skills. Every country can apply to send a men's/mixed and a women's team.

Curious facts and numbers:

• The Homeless World Cup is organised since 2003.
• More than 1 million people worldwide have participated in some way in the Homeless World Cup since the first tournament was arranged in Graz, Austria.
• Women's teams have played in the annual tournament since 2010.
• Finland has sent a team to the competition every year since 2006.
• The Homeless World Cup 2019 tournament was in Cardiff, Wales and attracted more than 500 players from over 50 countries.