VANCOUVER, B.C. - Jay Hock juggles a soccer ball with his feet one sunny June afternoon, practising moves he hopes will net him a spot on Canada's World Cup team.

But it's not the FIFA World Cup that Hock is preparing for.

He and his teammates are men and women from the Downtown Eastside, a gritty Vancouver neighbourhood known for its drugs, homelessness and prostitution.

They're all homeless, or just off the streets, and they'll compete this September against other homeless soccer teams from Toronto, Montreal and Calgary.

Players will be vying for eight coveted spots on Canada's international homeless soccer team when it travels to Melbourne, Australia, in December for the sixth Homeless World Cup, an annual street soccer competition that brings together players from around the world.

"There's no million-dollar contracts here, no egos,'' Hock says on a sunny June afternoon, as he and his teammates celebrated a 7-4 win in an exhibition game against a team of provincial MLAs.

Across the park, dozens of people line up at one of the neighbourhood's soup kitchens, in a struggling part of Vancouver where used needles dot the landscape.

Hock credits the team, the Dream Catchers, for keeping him off the street and away from drugs. He's been sober for five months, saying his responsibility to the team keeps him from fulfilling any urge to get high.

"I say, `You know what? I've got teammates that rely on me, I've got people in my corner who want to see me succeed,'' he says.

"Whenever I have that trigger urge, it comes back to just playing soccer, being on the team, being a role model, and being active in the community.''

Rhonda Alvarez, the team's founder, says the Vancouver team is based on social inclusion through health and wellness, giving the players a chance to dramatically change their lives.

"When the guys get involved, they make a three-year goal plan and we work at getting them into counselling, housing, employment; whatever their needs are, we work very closely with them.''

As members of the team they become role models in the community, Alvarez says. It's also a way to empower the players, giving them self-esteem as they experience the challenges of working in a team.

The tournament itself has certainly garnered some attention -- Nike and the UEFA, the European soccer league, are sponsors, and Manchester United is linked to Britain's team.

Actor Colin Farrell, who made international headlines after taking a homeless man on a spending spree during a Toronto film festival last year, is on board too: He narrates an ESPN video about the championships.

International players must be over the age of 16 and homeless or have been homeless in the past two years, or make their income as a street paper vendor. Teams play four-on-four games, made up of three outfielders and one goalie, and players can only take part in one world tournament.

Austria was host to 18 countries for the first Homeless World Cup in July 2003. By last year in Cape Town, South Africa, 48 countries with 496 players had signed on.

Canada placed 40th in 2007, while teams from Scotland, Poland and Liberia took the three top spots.

The four Canadian teams have just three months to hone their skills before the championships in Calgary. It's the first year Vancouver has fronted a team.

"This community needs it,'' says player Sam Al-Jondi, who says he once coached soccer in northern California before ending up on the streets of Vancouver.

"This community needs something positive, something to feel good about, something to be proud of. Any way we can contribute and help, we should be able to do that.''