Kicking addiction: Hong Kong team seeking redemption at Homeless World Cup

A team of Hong Kong footballers and coaches, who have struggled with gambling and drug abuse, are aiming to overcome their pasts by competing in the 20th Homeless World Cup in Norway this week.

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The players, led by captain Habib Akeel Amjid, flew to Oslo on Thursday to represent Hong Kong at the tournament, where they will compete against 39 other men’s teams for the title.

For Amjid, a 42-year-old father of three children aged between four months and nine years, playing for the team transformed his life from previously borrowing money to fund gambling, suffering from drug abuse and sleeping on the streets.

“I slept in Victoria Park last September and October. I had lost so much money, I couldn’t go home. I’d occasionally shower at friends’ or at the public disabled toilets,” said Amjid, who lost more than HK$40,000 (US$5,127) in one night.

He became involved in gambling through people he met who also used cannabis and, over three to four years, sank into a quagmire of addiction, spending all of his salary – including what was meant to support his family.

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On a friend’s recommendation, he tried out for the homeless football team.

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