William off to Homeless World Cup

A Glasgow dad is set to put on his national team’s colours as he represents Scotland at the Homeless World Cup this weekend.

William, who has been supported at our Glasgow Residential Recovery Services, has been selected to take part in the Homeless World Cup in Norway this month.

The tournament brings together more than 500 players across the world.

William is part of the Scotland team put together by Street Soccer, a charity which offers free, inclusive, trauma-informed football sessions in Scotland and London.

He told us about his experience with football and his journey with CrossReach.

He said: “It all started when I was leaving Rainbow House and they had linked me in with Street Soccer to help me get good structure into my day when I left there.”

William went through four months of training before being selected as one of the eight players to represent the nation in the tournament.

William said: “It was exciting being part of the last eight, it was a huge sense of achievement for the hard work I’d put in. I’ve also met the Scotland National Team at Hampden and I was interviewed on STV.

“I’m the Head Coach for my seven-year-old son’s football team and

it’ll be great for him to see it. I’ll hopefully have been a good role model for him and show him how much you get out of putting hard work in. Representing my country is going to be a huge honour and everything about my World Cup story so far is a huge part of my recovery and my life. 

"CrossReach have helped me massively and supported me through the process.

“I feel it’s taken a long time to get myself to this stage in my life but I’m now prepared and ready to move on from Whiteinch Move On to my own home which I have recently been offered.”

Scotland have been drawn in Group F alongside Lithuania, India, Hong Kong  and Ghana.

Their first games kick off tomorrow and you can follow online on the Homeless World Cup YouTube page.

Good luck to William and the rest of the team!