WITH a place he can call home and his own job, Brendan Kingsmore's life has taken a turn for the better in the year since he captained Northern Ireland at the Homeless World Cup.
His story is replicated by many of the eight-man squad who travelled to Chile in October 2014 for the tournament, where they won the Acción Total Cup, one of several trophies up for grabs.
Of the 2014 team, seven have since found permanent living accommodation, three have completed football coaching badges and none have been caught up with the justice system.
One of the star players of the side, Padraig McKissock, who netted 30 goals in Chile, signed for Bangor FC in February and now lines out for Sport and Leisure Swifts.
The players were selected from 5-a-side leagues, run weekly by the charity Street Soccer NI, which was founded around six years ago and whose main partners are East Belfast Mission and the IFA.
Alongside football they offer support around a range of issues including housing, employability and addictions.
Mr Kingsmore told The Irish News he had been "in and out of hostels" for nine years before being introduced to Street Soccer NI by the youth organisation MACS.
He now has a home, a full-time job in retail and plays football with a Saturday league team.
Mr Kingsmore said: "If I had never had football I wouldn't be here. I live and breathe football. It helps me to get away from it all."
He added: "I got a house in November and I am now an ambassador for the Prince's Trust. I didn't feel part of society before but now I am enjoying life."
Kenny Flood, who was the goalkeeper in the 2014 side, has also got his own home and has successfully completed coaching badges.
Mr Flood, a volunteer with the Simon Community, is now looking to take goalkeeping badges.
He said: "I was living in a hostel and the guys there introduced me to it and got me playing football again. Street Soccer has helped change my life, I have a lot of drive and motivation now."
Mr Flood added: "I had a bit of an attitude problem when I started. It gave me real motivation and helped me to learn to control my temper on the football pitch and has helped me with my anger issues."
Gerard Toner, who competed in the Northern Ireland team in Amsterdam in this summer's tournament, said he had attempted suicide prior to being involved.
He said: "Early this year something terrible happened in my life and I had lost hope and my ambition. I had plans to take my own life and I had even tried to do so."
"Street Soccer has given me a new perspective on life and I have ambitions again to get ahead in life. I’ve got my own house now and I’m actively looking for work, I hope to secure a full time position soon."
Former Glentoran player Terry Moore, who represented Canada in the 1986 World Cup, has been working as a volunteer coach with Street Soccer for the past three years.
He was initially approached and asked to help out while working as a supervisor at Hosford House hostel, run by the East Belfast Mission.
He said: "I was able to successfully build a rapport with the players. I think being able to converse and speak with them is what I have enjoyed the most, and the fact some of them will come to you for chats and open up a bit."
Mr Moore added: "It has given them a focus and my motivation is simply to help others."
The co-founders of Street Soccer are Justin McMinn and Aidan Byrne, who worked together at Hosford House.
Mr McMinn said: "We had heard about the homeless World Cup and we thought it would be great to set up a team. We thought it would be great to have a league which wouldn't cost people lots of money to play in."
"I bumped into people from the IFA and told them my vision and it went from there. We have about 20-30 people involved in the main project, at Shaftesbury Recreation Centre in south Belfast."
"It doesn't cost them anything to play and we provide football kits and shorts."
Mr McMinn added: "Before the World Cup a lot of them would have lacked motivation to come off benefits or beat addictions. They came back motivated to do things with their lives after starting to play football."
Co-founder of Street Soccer, Aidan Byrne, said that he has "seen first hand that football can inspire people to change their lives."
Mr Byrne said: "Many of our players have experienced great difficulties and it’s really inspiring to see them develop, find their own home, get into work, and have a better life. We are all buzzing at the thought of bringing the project to more people around Northern Ireland."
Thanks to a £10,000 funding boost from the Housing Executive, there are now plans to roll out the project to Ballymena, Dungannon, Bangor and Newry by the end of March next year.
There are also proposals to develop a soccer academy which is currently being piloted.
The next Homeless World Cup is expected to take place in July next year at a location in the UK or Ireland.
