SEOUL 2024 HOMELESS WORLD CUP LOGO LAUNCHED
The Homeless World Cup Foundation and Big Issue Korea today (Friday 29th March) revealed the official logo for the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup, taking place at Hanyang University from Saturday 21st September – Saturday 28th September.
The Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup marks a significant milestone in the Homeless World Cup Foundation’s history, the first time the tournament has been played in Asia and promises to be a once in a lifetime moment for everyone involved.
There will be nearly 50 countries from across the globe represented at the tournament and 500 players will compete across 8-days in the world class sporting spectacle.
The Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup logo, designed by Scottish brand agency Tangent, aims to capture the spirit of the host city and people. The core inspiration for the logo comes from dancheong, a native painting technique used to decorate Korea’s stunning temples and palaces, including Gyeongbokgung Palace, located in Northern Seoul.
Similar to the synonymous panelling on a football, the logo is created using a suite of hexagons that work together to form something bigger: the Homeless World Cup is not simply a tournament, but shapes people’s attitudes towards homelessness and those who experience it.
As per Korea’s cultural symbol ‘Sam-Taegeuk’, blue in the logo represents heaven, red represents the earth and yellow represents humanity. Yellow (humanity) is at the centre of the emblem and the outward blossom represents growth and development, just like the players and teams who will be involved at the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup.
Mel Young, HWCF President and co-founder, said:
“We are all looking forward to the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup being played in Korea – our first tournament in Asia. From the beaches in Rio to under the lights of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, this world class tournament has been played in some exceptional cities and venues to bring awareness and understanding to this global issue – homelessness.
“On the day Netflix released The Beautiful Game, a film inspired by the real Homeless World Cup, we are proud to look ahead to this year’s tournament in Seoul and to launch this unique logo, inspired by the rich culture and history of Seoul, the 16th largest capital city in the world.”
Sooryul Kim, The Big Issue Korea President, said:
"The level of a country is said to be determined by the life of the most vulnerable. And the most basic condition of a humane life is adequate housing. ‘Home’ should be a space where people can ‘live’ comfortably and at ease. I hope that through the beautiful games taking place in Seoul this September at the Homeless World Cup, we can reconsider ‘housing rights’ and the meaning of ‘home’."
HOME GAME
Home Game is the slogan for the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup, Sooryul Kim explains the reasons behind this choice:
“At Big Issue Korea we believe that everyone deserves a home. Home Game, the slogan for the Seoul 2024 Homeless World is inspired by the book with the same title, written by Homeless World Cup co-founder Mel Young and Homeless World Cup trustee Peter Barr.
“We believe this slogan represents both the key meaning of housing and football at the same time, and it perfectly represents the Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup. It provides an example of the warm welcome Seoul will give to the players coming to the tournament from all over the world.
“The Seoul 2024 Homeless World Cup will be a Home Game not only to our Korean players involved but also to everyone coming to Seoul. Our Home Game will welcome everyone involved with genuine tolerance and warmth.”
An estimated 100m people are homeless worldwide. As many as 1 billion people lack adequate housing. The characteristics and causes of homelessness around the world are complex and varied. Homeless people experience social exclusion and stigmatisation, economic hardship and poverty, and physical and mental health problems.
The Homeless World Cup exists to help end this crisis in all its forms.