A former heroin addict and a woman living in emergency accommodation with her young daughter are among 16 people competing for Ireland at the Homeless World Cup in South Korea this week.
The tournament, which was first held in 2003, has grown to involve 68 countries and aims to change the lives of people who have experienced homelessness.
Sean Kavanagh founded the Irish Homeless Street Leagues (IHSL) in 2004, which holds annual trials to select eight men and eight women to participate in the World Cup, which this year is being held in Seoul. The tournament began on Saturday and will run until next Saturday.
The format of the game is four-a-side with two ten-minute halves. It costs about €160,000 each year to run the