Street Soccer’s Annual Census Survey for 2025 is released, read below for a summary of the findings and a link to the full report.
“Street Soccer is unique because it’s about people first and football second.”
Street Soccer have been conducting an annual Census Survey since 2017 and have been working with The Team for the last 3 years. The Team are a leading global sports, music and entertainment agency with a dedicated insights team that helps organisations understand and evidence their community impact through research and analysis. They have been able to provide independent interpretations of data collected from Street Soccer players and we are incredibly grateful for their continued pro-bono support.
2025’s Census pulled out a number of key themes from Street Soccer Players’ responses.
Happiness was reported as the top priority for players, followed by physical and mental health. Happiness and joy as outcomes in their own right are often overlooked by funders or governments but is this not what we all want for our lives?
The report identified a number of key socio-economic challenges we are facing at a national level which are of course filtering down to our players. Employment being a prominent challenge. With the increases to unemployment seen nationally in 2025 and the challenges our players are facing, it is unsurprising that many continue to struggle to see employment as attainable or get into work, and we know that loss of employment can be the catalyst for joining Street Soccer.
Mental health similarly continues to be an area players are struggling with. Two thirds of players have either past or current experience of adverse mental health and 14% have been in psychiatric care. But Street Soccer are providing more mental health support than ever, through double the number of sessions we were running 2 years ago and increase mental health training and knowledge within our team. 73% of players felt their mental health had improved since joining Street Soccer.
Hope and opportunity continue to be our focusses when supporting players and it is wonderful to see that year on year players are continuing to feel hopeful for the future, despite the challenges they are facing or have overcome. 76% reported feeling more hope for the future since joining Street Soccer.
One of the most important reasons we collect a Census every year is to understand what players feel they are getting from us, how we can improve, and how we can try to influence beyond just Street Soccer.
We see on the pitch everyday players who belong to a team so it is great to see that 93% of players feel they belong to a community.
We’re working with players facing a wide range of challenges and barriers, people who other services may describe as ‘hard to reach’ but, as our CEO David says, people are not hard to reach they are just ‘easy to forget’ for some services. When we asked players about their engagement with other services, over half (53%) are only receiving support from us. This tells us that through the power of football we are reaching people other services struggle to reach and that we are supporting them to continue to engage.
How do you reach people who are branded by other services as ‘hard to reach’? Around half (48%) of players found out about Street Soccer through word of mouth, through friends and family, and almost a third (28%) found us via another support service. This tells us that partnership working is vital to providing the unique support we offer, that more modern methods like social media are only enabling us to recruit a small number (5%) of players, but that it is mostly other people who are the key to bringing new players into our community.
For the last 9 years, players have consistently been telling us that Street Soccer is unique. This year 98% of players thought so and that figure has never dropped below 90%. What is it that makes our approach different? The themes that players mention are support moving at their own pace, the lived experience within the staff team, that every player is treated equally and people from all different backgrounds come together.
“It’s not just about football; it’s about helping people grow”
“Street Soccer is unique because it’s about people first and football second. It uses the game as a way to bring people together who might otherwise feel pushed to the margins, giving them a safe, welcoming space where they’re treated with respect and understanding. What really stands out is the genuine support around the football — helping people rebuild confidence, improve their wellbeing, and take small but meaningful steps forward in their lives. It doesn’t just offer a place to play; it offers connection, purpose, and the feeling that someone believes in you.”
We are delighted to see so many players reporting their individual improvements to confidence, agency, communication, organisation, goal setting and ability to trust. Pages 26 and 27 of the report detail some of these fantastic achievements players have made.
The report also highlights the community-wide benefits that come from Street Soccer’s services.
The Team’s analysis found that players are almost 9Xs less likely to be involved in criminal justice after joining Street Soccer. There was a 78% decrease in players experiencing problem substance use, and a 95% decrease in homelessness, up from an 80% decrease last year. We are proud to have played a part in each player’s journey to security and happiness.
32% of players are from minority ethnic backgrounds and we are increasingly supporting players seeking asylum in the UK. Our sessions don’t divide groups up, instead on the pitch we watch prejudices and assumptions dissolve and see friendships and communities build in real time. All through the simple vehicle of football.
“Street Soccer brings people from different backgrounds and walks of life together and everyone is welcome.”
Please see here for the full report.
