Soccer players defect

last updated 8 January 2015

Copenhagen, Denmark

Fifteen of the soccer players who took part in the Homeless World Cup last week failed to return to their home countries. The Homeless World Cup is an annual amateur tournament for homeless people. This year, 500 players from 48 countries participated in the games in Copenhagen. When it was all over, seven players from Burundi, four from Liberia, three from Cameroon, and one from Afghanistan were missing. Organizers of the charity event said they were “upset and angry” that players would exploit the trip to sneak off into the West. “We want to review the situation and put new measures in place to ensure this doesn’t affect the positive impact of the tournament,” said tournament spokeswoman Kat Byles.