Nicholas Bakker

Happy Football Cambodia Australia (HFCA) was formed in 2005. Our main purpose is to work with disadvantaged youth in Cambodia through the beautiful game of football (soccer). HFCA funds a weekly football program in Phnom Penh where up to 100 kids get a break from their high pressure lives and come and play football for a couple of hours.

Every year we aim to take a team of players to the Homeless World Cup where they dream of representing Cambodia on an international stage and have a life changing experience. The HFCA team have been working hard to secure funds and sponsors to send the team to Glasgow in July 2016, where 51 nations will compete.

We are asking you to dig deep and help us raise the funds to send our attacker, Chan Minea, to join his team members in Glasgow and give him this once in a lifetime opportunity to represent his country.

Our football programs offer these young people an opportunity to learn the skills required to play the game and learn how to be part of a team. We provide them with football boots and other gear as well ensuring they get the best possible coaching from our highly-skilled coaching staff, many of whom are former Homeless World Cup staff themselves.

Our partner organisations  Riverkids Project, Cambodian Children’s Fund, Build Future Today and Happy School work with children who come from families who are living in extreme poverty, children who have been orphaned, lived on dumps or rescued from brothels or other forms of slavery.

According to our partner Riverkids, taking part in the Homeless World Cup was fantastic for the players:

"After attending the Homeless World Cup and arriving home, we noticed a change in these children. They were so happy, proud and much more confident. They become the leaders of kids at their community and would take it upon themselves to organize football matches with their friends at the slum. They had such a positive attitude and that influenced other children as well. They had pride in themselves, in their country - and that is something that we very much want to encourage at Riverkids".

The 2016 Homeless World Cup commences on 10 July in Glasgow, Scotland. The team of 6 players has been selected and are training hard to represent their country.

About Chan Minea

The funds will be used to help sending the Cambodian player Chan Minea to the 2016 Homeless World Cup in Glasgow. This will include plane tickets and accommodation.

HFAC have successfully sent a Cambodian team to the Homeless World Cup every year since 2008. While we have encountered some issues (such as obtaining visa's for the players), but have generally overcome them.

Our main obstacle is funding the travel, which along with other fundraising events, is the purpose for this campaign.