9-year-old football freestyler and YouTube sensation Keyl Skills has teamed up with TruChallenge & charity Street Child United for a special “Around the World Challenge”, in support of the next Street Child World Cup in Moscow 2018.

The Street Child World Cup is an international football tournament for street-connected children from across the world, which kicks-off ahead of each FIFA World Cup in the host country. In May 2018, children will come together representing 24 national teams, both girls and boys, for their own World Cup. They will be playing to make their voices heard and challenge the negative perceptions and treatment they face.

The United Nations estimates there are up to 150 million children living and working on the streets worldwide. These children are often blamed for their circumstances, marginalised, face violence, abuse and are denied their rights.

To kick-off the “Street Child World Cup Road to Moscow 2018”, the charity has teamed up with YouTuber Keyl Skills and social media platform TruChallenge to challenge the football community everywhere – clubs, players, freestylers and fans – to show their support and their football skills by completing as many “Around the World” freestyles they can.

Performing the “Around the World” involves juggling the ball and while doing so, moving your foot completely up, over, around and back under the ball before it touches the ground.

Keyl will kick off the challenge on in October 2017.

Keyl is renowned for setting football challenges on his Keyl Skills Ultimate

Football Skills YouTube channel – earning more than 2.4 million views and over 60,000 subscribers for his freestyle tutorials, vlogs and gaming videos.

Keyl said, “My family are foster carers so when we heard about Street Child United it was only right to try and help out. These kids are just like me and you but have a very different way of life, so I want to try my best to help them so they can have a better chance at life. I want to challenge my followers to take part in an epic but simple challenge to raise awareness for Street Child United and it’s called the Around the World Challenge”.

Street Child United said, “We use the power of football and the Street Child World Cup to provide a global platform to street-connected children so they can be seen and their voices heard – on a level playing field. We can’t wait to kick-off the Around the World Challenge and inspire football fans, clubs and players the world-over to show off their skills in solidarity with millions of children living and working on the streets.”

You can take part in the challenge using ‘TruChallenge’ through their website, or iOS & Android app that is free to download. Simply open the ‘Street Child United’ challenge, click the “Take the Challenge” button and upload a video of you attempting the challenge and then nominate friends & family you think can do it. If you download the TruChallenge app to your mobile it can all be done simply by recording your challenge attempt on the phone and uploading straight to the Street Child United page. Simples!