ST. PETERSBURG, June 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's first soccer championship for homeless people kicks off Friday at the Metrostroi stadium in St. Petersburg, tournament organizers said.
The event, which runs June 2-4, will bring together eight teams of homeless people from St. Petersburg, Siberia, Poland, Estonia and Lithuania, aims to highlight the problem of poverty.
A St. Petersburg team won the European Homeless Soccer Cup held in November 2005 in the Polish town of Gdansk, when it beat seven European teams and finished with a triumphant 4:0 victory in the final match against Poland.
Soccer tournaments for the homeless are now international events, with homeless world cups held every year. This year, the 2006 Homeless World Cup will be held September 24-30 in Cape Town, South Africa, while next year's tournament will take place in Denmark.
