The Homeless World Cup is an international football event, where teams made up entirely of people who are homeless compete. The event has been held annually since 2003. It was at the end of 2001 that Mel Young, a famous expert in the media inDustry, came up with the idea of the Homeless World Cup. 18 months later the first event took place in Austria. It was such a success that people decided to do more. There are some interesting and special rules of the event. For example, players(male or female at least 16 years old) must have been homeless at some time after the previous year's World Cup or make their main living income by selling newspapers in the street or be asylum  seekers . Anyone can take part, regardless of his or her abilities. There are at most 4 players per team to compete in the field. Games are 14 minutes long. In 2007, 48 nations, 500 players took a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their countries for true spirit and glory in Copenhagen, Denmark. The winner in 2007 was Scotland. The 2008 Homeless World Cup took place in Melbourne, Australia. And in 2009 it was held in Milan. The latest Homeless World Cup was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September 2010. Paris 2011 Homeless World Cup takes place August followed by the Mexico City 2012 Homeless World Cup. The success of the competition has been in two aspects--to attract the world's attention to the problems of homelessness and also to help participants live a better life. According to a survey by the Homeless World Cup Organization after 2006 Homeless World Cup, 92% of the players had a new motivation for life, 93 players successfully got rid of their dependency on drugs and alcohol, 44% improved their housing situation and 72% continued to play football. The aim of the Homeless World Cup is to   _  .
promote the cause of football help the homeless live a better life draw attention to those living in poverty call on homeless people to unite and compete for honor