If you didn't know what the Homeless World Cup is, this film will educate you. It's basically a week-long tournament, involving teams from all over the globe. Each team consists of players who are homeless. That appears to be the only requirement, other than the player being drug-free. Yet, they don't have to be trained or have any athletic ability. They simply have to be homeless. Obviously, the players have to have some interest in European football aka soccer, but it's clear that having kicked a ball ever in life is not needed at all. This film, written by English novelist Frank Cottrell-Boyce, and directed by Thea Sharrock, is a typical sports drama about underdogs trying to overcome odds, but it's effective or more so than recent sports flicks, such as Next Goal Wins (2023), which was a step forward in representation for a marginalized group, but swerved into traps, such as the white savior trope, or even not fully fleshed-out characterizations. This one doesn't fall into those traps, which feels like a success, even if it doesn't soar above that.
Other than being homeless, the rules of the game aren't explicated. It becomes obvious that the homeless players have to be physically fit to some degree. Gender and age don't seem to matter. Obviously, people involved have a love of the sport. The people aren't randomly pulled from the streets, but the only real stipulation is that participants only get one chance. Past participants aren't allowed to play again. The film never explains why this is the case. The assumption is that every participant isn't homeless after playing in the games. It's not clear if the organizers help in that regard, beyond providing the tournament experience itself or if the assumption is wrong and continued homelessness after the games isn't the consideration.
Micheal Ward (The Book of Clarence and Blue Story) stars as Vinny Walker, a British football player who is living out of his car. He seems to have a job or an employer, but that job isn't getting him steady work. It's never explained how he got to this point or what pushed him over the edge into homelessness. He does have a daughter who is in the custody of her mother, but it's never explained why Vinny isn't living with the mother of his child or why she isn't helping him. Vinny is clearly very prideful and seems to be somewhat anti-social. We do see him trying to pretend as if he isn't unhoused or hide his homelessness. The film also has him state that he doesn't like talking about his personal life, which is totally understandable, but it leaves the audience wanting.
The film introduces us to five other players in the Homeless World Cup. We do get backstories on all of them, so we understand why they're homeless. For three of them, they suffer from various addictions. Callum Scott Howells (It's a Sin) plays Nathan, a heroin junkie. Kit Young (Out of Darkness) plays Cal, an alcoholic. Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (The Book of Clarence) plays Kevin, a gambler who lost it all. The others are homeless due to forces outside their control. Sheyi Cole (Small Axe) plays Jason, a kid who bounced from foster home to foster home. Finally, Robin Nazari, in his feature debut, plays Aldar, a Syrian refugee who used to be a barber. We learn about all these other guys. Yet, we're not given a solid reason for why Vinny is homeless. After the film is over, we don't even get if he's still unhoused or not.
It doesn't seem to matter because the real issue isn't why but merely the fact that he's ashamed to be homeless. Overcoming his homelessness or even understanding why he is homeless is less important than having Vinny acknowledge that he is, which he refuses to do throughout the film. His pride seems to be getting in the way of him admitting his homelessness. The film does show him sleeping on park benches, so it's not clear why verbalizing his homelessness is some great hurdle that he needs to get over. The only exception is that his bigotry or disdain for the other homeless men is perhaps hindering his ability for proper teamwork during the games. If so, this film's climax never really bridges that gap.
Otherwise, this film angles toward being about Vinny's self-esteem or his self-worth being in question. However, his arrogance or pride gives him too much self-esteem. The film wants us to think by the end that his problem is a lack of self-esteem. If anything, his problem is a lack of humility. Yet, the film switches and purports that Vinny's issue is the opposite. Therefore, I'm not sure what is resolved by the end. Regardless, Ward is an incredible screen presence and let the powers-that-be give him more leading roles in major motion pictures.
Rated PG-13 for language, partial nudity and drug references.
Running Time: 2 hrs. and 5 mins.
Available on Netflix.
