The sixth Homeless World Cup kicked off in Melbourne today with the city’s Federation Square transformed into a spectacular street soccer stadium.

A total of 56 nations are competing in the annual tournament, which uses the power of sport to transform the lives of homeless people around the world.

SportingPulse technology was used to run the registration and accreditation systems for players, coaches, volunteers and media.

A professional accreditation card is produced from the system with the organising committee having the ability to fully configure their event.

To show its support for this extremely worthwhile event, SportingPulse provided the event management system at a greatly reduced rate.

Accreditation manager Melissa Hansen has been thrilled with the easy-to-use system and the responsiveness of the SportingPulse technical team to change requests. When asked on the first day how the system was going she responded simply, “Fantastic!”

The Melbourne event will be the biggest Homeless World Cup ever and will include the first Women’s Cup.

The purpose-built stadium at Federation Square will have a viewing capacity of 2500 with grandstand-style seating for 800 people.

There are additional viewing areas to watch all the excitement live on the main screen and a further two pitches are being used along the river at Birrarung Marr.

SportingPulse CEO Nick Maywald says: “SportingPulse is very proud to be a partner of the Homeless World Cup. This event helps to support grassroots football projects all over the world and shows how grassroots sport can give homeless people hope and the chance to better their lives.”

The Socceroos have also got behind the event, with captain Lucas Neill saying: ”The Homeless World Cup is not just a tournament - it’s an opportunity for people to change their lives. I urge everybody to get behind the teams, spur them onto victory, and help them give themselves a fresh start,”

The Homeless World Cup takes place from 1-7 December with the final on Sunday at 5.15pm.

For more information and to find out how you can support the Homeless World Cup, click here to the visit website.