Homeless Wales team make a mark

Wales team Photo: www.homelessworldcup.org/Gaia Squarci/FOTO UP AGENCY

The Wales team in Milan during their Community Cup win over Sweden Photo: www.homelessworldcup.org/Gaia Squarci/Foto Up Agency

By Neil Prior
BBC Wales news

After the Wales football team, with an estimated combined earnings of around £25m per year, lost 3-1 to Russia last week, they can now only dream of appearing at a World Cup.

However, 10 men from Wales, who aren't even sure where they'll be sleeping in a few weeks, have done it for real.

At the Homeless World Cup in Milan last week, the Wales team bucked their world ranking of 47th, to finish 14 places higher in 33rd.

I'm so proud of all of them - none of them have got it easy with their personal lives

Keri Harris, manager

In the process, they took home the tournament's Community Cup for mid-ranked sides.

The competition was contested by 500 players from 47 nations, using Fifa's Street Football four-a-side rules, with rolling substitutions.

The final was won by Ukraine, who defeated Portugal 5-4.

'Funding'

Wales, ranked second-bottom, were odds-on to come home empty handed. However a morale-boosting 14-0 destruction of Japan - the only side ranked beneath Wales - set the stage for a run to the final of the Cup's second-tier competition, including a win over hosts Italy.

The final of the Community Cup against Sweden saw Wales narrowly edge a blitz of attacking football 9-7.

For manager Keri Harris, it was no more than the team's efforts had deserved over the past six months.

"I'm so proud of all of them. None of them have got it easy with their personal lives. All of them have had housing problems, and most of them have got other issues too.

"But on top of that, things haven't exactly been plain sailing for the team. As well as preparing to face the best teams in the world, we had a few late withdrawals from the squad, and getting the funding to be in Milan in the first place was a nightmare."

Welsh captain and goalkeeper Gareth Jones, is in the process of rebuilding his life after a spell in prison and problems with drug and alcohol abuse.

"I was at the lowest of the low, I had nowhere to live," said Mr Jones, 26, from Swansea.

"I had a five-year-old boy I needed to provide for. But this has got me off cannabis, it's got me off drink. It's something I've worked for and I'm so proud of myself for doing that. I was really low before I met all these guys and now I am full of confidence."

The Football Association of Wales (FAW) provide the team with a new kit each year and also provided items including pendants, water bottles and key rings for the tournament in Milan.