Street NI (formerly Street Soccer NI) is a charity set up for the disadvantaged groups of society such as the homeless, people with addictions, mental health issues, ex prisoners, refugees, asylum seekers and long term unemployed. We aim to bring positive change to people’s lives using sport and other programmes. We run weekly sessions in Belfast, Coleraine and Derry/Londonderry including women’s football and learning disability football. Over 200 people go through our sessions every week which last between 1-2 hours. Alongside the programmes we offer support with housing, employment, education, addictions, mental health issues and more.  

 

Street NI was birthed in 2009 when Co- Founders Justin McMinn and Aidan Byrne were working in a homeless hostel in East Belfast. When working in the hostel and playing football regularly with the residents they had a dream of setting up a weekly football project were other hostels and organisations could join in free of charge. They also heard about the Homeless World Cup that takes place every year and that Northern Ireland was unrepresented, that was something they wanted to change. A short while after with support from Belfast Community Sports Development Network and Irish Football Association they started their first pilot project in Feb 2010 at Shaftesbury Community Centre.  After a successful 2 months pilot they continued the project the rest of they year. The year after in partnership with the IFA they started another project in Derry/Londonderry running from Magee Campus. Today we have grown to have 16 weekly sessions across Northern Ireland including a women's project, a volleyball project, fitness classes and learning disability projects and more. 

 

In 2013 Street NI developed the first men's homeless Northern Ireland team and attended the Homeless World Cup in Poznan, Poland. Since then we have been to ten Homeless World Cups including Chile, Mexico, Norway and USA. In 2017 Street Soccer developed their first women's team and brought them to the Homeless World Cup in Oslo along with the men's team. We have taken over 100 homeless people across the world to represent Northern Ireland since 2013. 

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In 2024 Street NI obtained new premises at Shaftesbury Square in Belfast City Centre. The very large building which is a former Ulster Bank will now be used as our new headquarters where we will run a drop in support service, charity shop, food bank, gym, games room and other activities to impact the community and make a difference in our city. Exciting times ahead!

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