Around 80 trialists gathered in Middlesbrough on Friday, all chasing places on England's Homeless World Cup team. The trials brought together players from Teesside, Newcastle and Liverpool, and the qualification rules are tightly drawn: players must have recently experienced homelessness, have refugee status, or be in a drug rehabilitation scheme.
Craig McManus and Ryan Curtis were the clearest reminders that this is about more than selection. McManus, who now manages the England Homeless team, said: "I battled addiction for many years and it got the better of me. I became homeless and was sleeping in the streets in Edinburgh." Curtis said he had been clean for eighteen months, and added that football had given him "a place to find new friends and be part of something."
McManus and Curtis on what the game can give back
McManus played for Scotland at the 2016 Homeless World Cup, so he knows what the tournament can represent on both sides of the touchline. Speaking to BBC, he said: "To stand here today and be part of it - I feel grateful, privileged and lucky." That sits neatly alongside the job he now has in front of him in Middlesbrough, where the selection process is still only at trial stage.
Street Soccer, the charity involved, said the event was about finding "incredible talent and potential across the country, and giving more people the chance to be part of something life-changing". That is the right way to read it. The football matters, but so does the space it creates for people trying to rebuild routines, confidence and contact with others.
The road to Mexico
More than 500 players will compete in next year's Homeless World Cup in Mexico, so the Middlesbrough trials are only the first step. The strongest point from Friday is not a selection shortlist, but the range of reasons people were there in the first place.
For England, the rest of the process is about narrowing that group and turning a trial day into a squad. For the players who turned up in Middlesbrough, the bigger prize is still the chance to be part of the team when Mexico comes around.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
