Sydney - Austria beat hosts Australia 3-0 Monday in the opening game of an unusual football competition that has drawn teams from 56 countries to Melbourne.

The qualifications for entry to this all-amateur event are stiff: players must have been homeless since July 2007, be receiving help for drug or alcohol abuse or be an asylum seeker.

It's the Homeless World Cup and it's in its sixth year. Scotland is the defending champion.

The week-long competition - there are 349 matches of 14 minutes on makeshift pitches in the city centre - has for the first time a section for women's teams.

Psychologists and physiotherapists are on hand, as well as 1,000 volunteers.

"Homeless people travelling the world to a foreign country, jet-lagged, mental illness, they need first class support," George Halkias, coach of the Australian team, said. "They know that the eyes of the world are on them. They want to achieve like anybody else."

Tournament director Steven Persson said the event had taken people off the streets around the world. "As a change agent, it's just extraordinary," he said. (dpa)