Homeless World Cup: Chile look for home double

It's the final day of the Homeless World Cup in Santiago and the host nation are aiming for a 2014 double.

Chile will face Bosnia & Herzegovina in the men's Homeless World Cup final and Mexico in the final of the women's tournament.

The men got there with a last-gasp winner against Brazil in a 8-7 victory. It was tight in the other semi-final as well with the Bosnians eventually closing out a 5-4 win over Poland.

Chile's women's team also faced Brazil in their semi-final but enjoyed a slightly more comfortable 4-1 win.

They'll face an on-form Mexico though, with Hungary brushed aside 13-1 in the other semi-final.

The Chilean men will be looking for a second Homeless World Cup in three years having won the tournament in Mexico in 2012 while Bosnia & Herzegovina get their first taste of a Homeless World Cup final.

Having lost the final to Russia last year, Chile's women's team are on the hunt for a first title while Mexico will be looking to win for a second time have lifted the trophy in Rio de Janeiro back in 2010.

Scotland's bad run in Group D ended on Friday with further defeats to Bosnia and Peru.

That left Scotland progressing to the Municipalidad de Santiago Cup.

Defeat to Germany and a win over Austria yesterday mean the Scots face a Municipalidad de Santiago Cup 5th place play off against Greece today.

Eight trophies are up for grabs across the men's and women's tournaments today with every team involved in the final day of action.

And you can watch all the action live at the Homeless World Cup website

Are you in?

The tournament week is just one part of the work the Homeless World Cup does around the world throughout the year.

By joining the Homeless World Cup Supporters Club you can help that work - and be part of something special.

Join now to help beat homelessness through football.

Homeless World Cup Supporters Club

Homeless World Cup 2014: The action continues

The 2014 Homeless World Cup continues in Chile with 54 teams battling it out in the heat of Santiago.

Scotland have endured some stumbles since their strong showing in the qualifying phase.

Their first game in Group D of saw them slip to a 7-3 defeat at the hands of Lithuania.

And yesterday's two games also ended in defeat with a 9-3 win for Russia and a 4-2 win for Hong Kong.

That opening Group D win seems to have given Lithuania some momentum and they top the group. Scotland, yet to get off the mark, are two points adrift of Peru at the bottom of the table.

Scotland are in action twice today, playing Bosnia & Herzegovina before rounding off Group D against Peru.

Elsewhere Ireland lie third behind Poland and the Netherlands in Group B and Northern Ireland are second behind the United States in Group E.

In Group F England are three points behind leaders Denmark in second place while Northern Ireland are tied with Italy and Switzerland and three points behind Finland in a very tight, four team Group G.

Today's games will decide the final group placings before the teams move into the trophy stage, with every team involved over the tournament's final weekend.

So, although Scotland's chances of winning a third Homeless World Cup are now over, they could still be in the hunt for a trophy come Sunday.

Follow all the Homeless World Cup action live from Chile

It's a dream

The Women's Homeless World Cup also continues in Santiago with 12 teams - including England and Wales - involved.

The Homeless World Cup tournament week is, of course, only a part of what the Homeless World Cup movement does around the world throughout the year.

Partner organisations around the world give people the chance to change their lives by getting involved in football.

Some players, like Norway's Anne Cathrine Johansen, get the chance to travel to the tournament, ambassadors for what the Homeless World Cup achieves.

Anne Cathrine was cynical that football could help her beat her drug addication. But after just five weeks with the Frelsesarmeen football team she could point to positive changes in her life.

And now comes Chile:

"Coming to Chile is something I’ve never thought of. It’s a dream come true!"

What's next? Returning to Norway, finding a job and reintegrating with society.

As Homeless World Cup supporter Eric Cantona said:

"Football and the Homeless World Cup has the power to fire up a person to excel as a human being, to change their lives for the better. It is fantastic that football brings this opportunity to their lives."

Read more stories from the 2014 Homeless World Cup

Homeless World Cup: Strong start for Scotland

The 2014 Homeless World Cup got underway in Chile on Sunday with Scotland taking their place in qualifying Group B alongside Hungary, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, Norway and South Korea.

And, in just the third game of the tournament, they got off to a winning start with a convincing 8-2 win over Norway.

The first Monday game started with defeat to Indonesia, a tight game ending 7-5.

Back in action four hours later, the Scottish players put that setback behind them with another big win as South Korea were beaten 8-1.

Yesterday's first game was another close affair but this time Scotland prevailed, winning the sudden death penalty shoot-out after a 5-5 draw with Hungary.

That left a Home International to round out Group B and Scotland and Northern Ireland served up a thriller for the Santiago crowd with the Scots eventually claiming a 10-8 win.

And it was an important win.

One defeat from the opening five games left Scotland in second place behind Hungary in a very close Group B with Indonesia just pipped into third and Northern Ireland a further point behind in fourth. Norway and South Korea finished in fifth and sixth.

That means Scotland are ready to take their place in Group D as the Homeless World Cup continues today. They're joined by Russia, Peru, Lithuania, Hong Kong and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

They kick off their Group D challenge today against Lithuania at 4pm our time.

You can follow all the action for Santiago live at the Homeless World Cup website.

Scotland at the Homeless World Cup 2014

The Scotland squad is again coached by Ally Dawson.

• Darren Dougherty
• Benyamin Aghaei
• David McKessey
• Dean McKenzie
• James McCallum
• Ryan Murray
• Sean Stewart
• Toby McKillop

Read Ryan Murray's story to find out how the Homeless World Cup and playing football has already changed his life

Homeless World Cup 2014: 10 days to go

The countdown to the Homeless World Cup 2014 is on.

We're just 10 days away from the big kick off in Santiago. 10 days to go and 10th October is Homeless World Cup.

A perfect time to get in the mood for Chile by reliving the best moments of the Homeless World Cup 2013, when 500 players representing 103,000 participants in Homeless World Cup project around the world came together in Poznan, Poland.

After seven days of competition Brazil faced Mexico in the Homeless World Cup final:

In 2014 Scotland will join Italy and Brazil in taking a shot at winning their third Homeless World Cup title.

Out last victory was in 2011, edging out Mexico in the final:

Find out more about the Homeless World Cup

• Homeless World Cup website
• Homeless World Cup on Facebook

2014 Homeless World Cup - the countdown

Time to turn the Scottish Football Blog over to a good cause.

As Hibs don't yet qualify as a charity, I'm sending my annual greetings to the Homeless World Cup.

This year's tournament - beating homelessness through football - will take place in Chile and kicks off in just over a fortnight, on 19th October.

Regular readers will know the drill. If you don't here it is:

• The Homeless World Cup uses football to help people change their lives
• It works with 70 partners around the world, supporting grassroots football programmes
• The annual Homeless World Cup tournament celebrates that work by uniting teams of homeless people from around the world

69 teams from 43 countries will compete in Santiago this month.

They're expected to play in front of 100,000 spectators over the course of the week.

Every player will meet at least one of the eligibility rules:

• Have been homeless at some point after 1/10/13 in accordance to the national definition of homelessness
• Make their main living income as street paper vendor
• Asylum seekers currently without positive asylum status or who were previously asylum seekers but obtained residency status after 01/10/2013
• Currently in drug or alcohol rehabilitation and also have been homeless at some point in the past two years

The players making up the eight members of each national squad are ambassadors - representing the thousands of other players who are working with their national Homeless World Cup organisations each week throughout the year.

And lives will be changed.

David Duke played for Scotland at the 2004 Homeless World Cup in Gothenburg. Today he runs Street Soccer Scotland, using football to help thousands of homeless people here:

"The Homeless World Cup was the rope that allowed me to pull myself out of a very dark hole. It helped me and now I can help others. When homeless people say to me I can't change, I say yes you can. I did. So can you."

Patrick Mbeu played for France in the 2007 Homeless World Cup in Copenhagen. In 2011 he was part of the organising for the Homeless World Cup in Paris and work as a coach with PSG:

"My participation in the Homeless World Cup brought about a profound personal change. It allowed me to regain my self-respect to take important steps in my life and I was also able to regain a high standard of play in my game."

Two stories. Two of thousands. Not everyone who has benefited from the Homeless World Cup will have a story as a spectacular but all will be as important.

Finding work, rebuilding family relationships, beating addictions. The same stories repeated thousands and thousands of times.

Thanks to football.

Follow the 2014 Homeless World Cup

I'll be following the 2014 Homeless World Cup on this blog and on Twitter.

You can find out more about the tournament and the Homeless World Cup's global impact on their website.

And, if you can afford to, you can also make a donation to support the Homeless World Cup this year and for many more years to come.