Michael Murphy (19), from Fairview, Dublin, was taken into care along with his six brothers and sisters when he was 13.
"The worst thing was the way they did it. Social workers arrived with half the Bridewell Garda station and just took us, split us up all over the place. I still don't know why we were taken off my ma," he said.
He lived at Don Bosco House in Drumcondra until he was 16 and since then has had spells of homelessness. Now he shares a one-bedroom flat in Fairview with five others.
Next week Michael flies out with seven team mates and their FAI coach to represent Ireland at the inaugural Homeless World Cup in Graz, Austria.
Twenty-two countries are taking part. The tournament is being organised by the International Network of Street Newspapers.
The Issues magazine, along with Focus Ireland and the FAI, have organised Ireland's participation. Mr Jon Glackin of Issues said notices inviting football enthusiasts to try-outs were put up in hostels and drop-in centres for the homeless. The response was "phenomenal".
"About 80 people turned up at the first training session in Crumlin two months ago."
Since then the numbers have been whittled down, and an eight-strong team was chosen under the stewardship of Mick Pender of the FAI.
"We have a great team and we have been training three times a week for the past eight weeks," said Mr Pender. "We'll do the best we can.When you consider the hardships and the backgrounds some of these men have come from, they've won the World Cup by just getting on the plane."
