The Netflix film, The Beautiful Game, released in March 2024, is inspired by the Homeless World Cup Foundation, which hosts an annual week-long football tournament where teams across the globe unite through the universal language of football.
Starring Bill Nighy as coach Mal, the film gives you the perfect glimpse of what you can expect from the Homeless World Cup tournament and how it helps support those who need inclusivity the most. The Beautiful Game was the number-one film in the UK, in the top five globally and was viewed nearly 6 million times in its first week alone.
Bringing together people from all over the world and from different walks of life, the Homeless World Cup took on Recite Me’s accessibility tools to assist its Member Countries, their players and supporters with language options, and to open up the Homeless World Cup to all.
Matthew Williams, Marketing and PR Manager at the Homeless World Cup Foundation explains,
“The Recite Me language tool is extremely useful for our teams and players and also the millions of people who watch our tournament and want to find out more about the work the Foundation do and about the Homeless World Cup.”
Visitors to the Homeless World Cup’s website can now choose from the range of Recite Me assistive tools, including screen reading functionality, multiple reading, styling features and an on-demand live translation tool.
The Homeless World Cup’s passion for inclusivity continues as they ready themselves to share their message alongside other inclusion sports specialists on Recite Me’s upcoming webinar: How to Enhance Online Accessibility & Inclusion in Sports.
Founded in 2001 and with the first tournament taking place in 2003 (Graz, Austria), the Homeless World Cup works with 70 Member Countries across the globe to culminate a world-class event that changes the lives of the participants and shapes attitudes towards the global issue of homelessness. Since the first tournament 21 years ago, the Homeless World Cup has helped over 1.2 million people globally to change their lives.
Matthew told us, “Our tournament brings a sense of purpose to people who may feel like they’ve lost theirs and helps inspire them to change their lives.
“Being homeless can be incredibly isolating, making people feel removed from society and alone. Joining a football team can be a small but hugely significant step in helping an individual to become part of a community.”
The Beautiful Game is a film of second chances – where homeless teams from around the world find that all roads lead to Rome (the location for the Homeless World Cup tournament in the film), and everything’s to play for.
““Filming out in Rome also included teams and real players from the Homeless World Cup’s global network of Member Countries who spent time in the Italian capital and played alongside the actors in specially designed Homeless World Cup-inspired pitches and surroundings.”
“Our Homeless World Cup players in Rome, who all had the experience of playing in a Homeless World Cup, were able to support the actors in understanding the emotions and impact of playing in a tournament.”
The work of the Homeless World Cup and their commitment to diversity and inclusion is a testament to just how powerful football can be when it is applied to a social problem, as they keep striving to do more.
“We can now reach more people to share the work that we do to hopefully change people’s opinions on those experiencing homelessness so that more people can understand the reasons why people become homeless and how we can try to stop this global issue.”
Do you want to ensure you are prioritising inclusivity in your organisation? Join the Homeless World Cup Foundation, England and Wales Cricket Board, Norwich City FC and 5,000 more organisations who have trusted Recite Me to support them on their digital inclusion journey.
On-Demand Webinar: Online Inclusion in Sport
Tune into our on-demand webinar to hear from sporting organisations leading the way in providing inclusive online communications for fans, players and employees.
You will learn how you can engage with disabled, international and elderly visitors via your website. The session will equip you with best practices, hints and tips on how to ensure no one is excluded from your online communications.
