They play football, because that game makes them happy. They are young and committed to fulfill their dreams. They are the Bulgarian Team of Hope - a football squad consisting of young and socially disadvantaged Bulgarians. It is said that everyone deserves a second chance. The Chief Executive Officer of Sports Management Bulgaria Viktor Kirkov shares that view as well. In September 2011 he founded the Team of Hope. His main purpose is to encourage the social integration of socially disadvantaged people, including young Bulgarians living in social institutions and Roma neighborhoods, through sports. The Team of Hope is the first Bulgarian football team which participates at the Homeless World Cup organized by the Homeless World Cup Foundation. The foundation organized this event each year and helps many socially disadvantaged Bulgarians change their lives in a positive direction. The coach of the Team of Hope Viktor Kirkov told Radio Bulgaria more about that initiative:

“When we select people for our football team we always judge them on their human qualities. Their football skills always come second. Our project is mainly socially-orientated. I never told anyone that he would become a great footballer. It is impossible to make a brilliant professional football career if you start practicing that sport at the age of twenty five or thirty. Some young guys play in youth football teams in our third division. If they train hard they would develop some qualities such as self-discipline, responsibility and ability to work in team, which would make their lives easier. We teach those boys that when they work hard, they would score positive results later. Some of the players had never left their neighborhoods, but when they started traveling abroad to take part at the Homeless World Cup they realized that everything was possible. Most of those boys were taught that they were different, a second-category people and are afraid of physical violence. We can't neglect that problem of our society. We can't integrate those people, if the Bulgarian society is not open to them. We must work together, in order to build a better future for our children.”

Since 2012 the Team of Hope has been scoring amazing results at the World Homeless Cup thanks to the strong motivation of its members.

“Those people must have strong self-confidence, in order to integrate themselves in our society and become complete citizens. They can succeed if they have a strong will and ambition. So far nearly 95% of the people who joined our project have succeeded in life. Now they work, study and some of them have children. I feel very excited when I see the smiles of those people and learn how they changed their lives for the better", the coach of the youth football team Mladen Hristov said.

Here is what one of the most energetic players of the Team of Hope Vasil Kozarev told Radio Bulgaria.

“I formed a football team together with eight other guys from the boarding-school in the town of Rakitovo. However, I was the only one from that team who joined the Team of Hope. Apparently, the coaches of the Team of Hope liked my football skills. I want to change my life from now on. Fighting with people for a piece of marijuana is not the way to succeed in life. My dream is to become a professional football player.”

The manager of the Team of Hope Viktor Kirkov also said that it was not difficult at all to work with those guys. He treats those players as his own children and keeps in touch with them even when they leave the team. Viktor believes that the socially-disadvantaged Bulgarians should not rely on peoples' compassion. They should rather take their lives in their own hands and work hard, in order to fulfill their goals.

“I believe that ordeals form the human character. I tried to change their perception about themselves. I told them that they should not pay attention to those who say that they are bad people who do bad things. They must come out of this stereotype and change their lives”, Victor Kirkov said.

Although the Team of Hope has so far scored an impressive performance, its mission has not ended yet. One of Viktor Kirkov's new projects is directed to people sentenced to prison. That project aims at allowing those people train street football. Thus, they can become better people.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov