On Wednesday, the Russian team, currently ranked 12th in the world, defeated the 2005 Homeless World Cup runners-up from Poland 4-1, making it a fourth straight victory after wins over Switzerland (3-0), Estonia (10-1) and Britain (5-2).
Russia has been participating in the Homeless World Cup since 2003, taking 13th place the first year, 5th place the following year and 12th place last year.
In November 2005, a St. Petersburg team won the European Homeless Soccer Cup held 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, and the Homeless World Cup is held every year, uniting teams of homeless people from around the globe to fight poverty.
The world tournament was co-founded by leading social entrepreneur Mel Young and Austrian street paper editor Harald Schmied, who came up with the idea over a beer in 2001 while they were attending the annual International Network of Street Papers conference in Cape Town.
