With soccer on the mind due to the imminent Homeless World Cup in Sacramento, California, INSP editor Tony Inglis writes about the rise of “multiclub” networks and how, if state-subsidised wealth and corporate greed didn’t poison it, the sport could learn something from how street papers have historically been connected.

INSP editor Tony Inglis: “If football cut out corporate greed, it could learn something from the solidarity of the street paper network”

Ulf Gustafsson, 65 years old, sells Faktum in the Partille Centrum outside Gothenburg. As the World Cup rolls on, he extolls about his passion for local team Gais – one of Sweden’s oldest football clubs which plays in the second tier of the country’s league system – and how his fandom of the team has intersected with his life.

“Like the team, I always make a comeback”: Faktum vendor Ulf lives and breathes for the Gothenburg football club Gais

The South Korean street soccer team in training. Photo courtesy of 

With the 2023 Homeless World Cup set to take place in Sacramento, California from 8 to 15 July, INSP is celebrating the crossover between street soccer and street papers. Street papers in seven countries – Argentina, Australia, Greece, Japan, Portugal, South Korea and Switzerland – either have street soccer projects connected to them, or work under the same parent organisation. In some cases, a street paper was borne out of a street soccer team, or vice versa. Let’s learn more.

Tagged with 'football'

INSP editor Tony Inglis: “If football cut out corporate greed, it could learn something from the solidarity of the street paper network”

“Like the team, I always make a comeback”: Faktum vendor Ulf lives and breathes for the Gothenburg football club Gais

How street papers and street soccer go together at the 2023 Homeless World Cup in Sacramento