"Yes, we can change the world if we want to" Mel Young boldly claims on his Twitter profile.

Regardless of your own efforts, it is obvious from his achievements the 62-year-old lives by his mantra and is trying his best to make the change a worthwhile one.

His primary objective this summer is for the Homeless World Cup, the 14th annual tournament to be held since 2003 and its second time in Scotland, to no longer be needed to exist.

"We shouldn't need to have the HWC in the first place because there shouldn't be any homelessness", he has bluntly argued in the past. The HWC is a project which has helped Young reach more than a million people in 74 different countries around the world during his own personal fight against homelessness.

From July 10 the tournament returns to his native Scotland with Glasgow's George Square to be transformed into a multi-match arena where some of those 74 countries will compete for the trophy. Entry to all games is free, ideal for anybody looking to fulfil the void left after the end of Euro 2016.

But it is much more than that. Each of the 512 players has a story, each player has been on a journey - and not just one from their homeland to the "Welcome to Glasgow" sign in the airport arrivals lounge. Some have battled drug or alcohol abuse, or other varying degrees of their state of homelessness.

Young's mantra is to "do small things" and although the main highlight of the HWC is the week of football which is played around the world it operates all year long through the different countries and associations working with players past and present, and future if the problem continues.

It is not the Scot's first venture in poverty alleviation around the world and not the first time that his homeland has been the focus of his enterprise. Young graduated from Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University, with a degree in economics, where he wrote for the student paper.

Upon leaving he worked primarily as a journalist before setting up his own publications: City Lynx magazine and the Wester Hailes Sentinel. His third launch was The Big Issue in Scotland but it had very little to do with the magazine of the same name in London.

In an interview two years ago where he picked out the five most important decisions of his career, Young said: "I called them up but they said they had no money or resources to do it up here, and they weren't sure how it would go in Scotland. They did say I could take the name, and if I could fund it all and do it myself then they were OK to put the name on it.

"I wanted to help. What did I know? Well, I knew how to run a magazine."

That was early in 1993. According to another article from The Guardian ten years ago by Christmas The Big Issue had a weekly circulation of 140,000 north of the border.

As you will no doubt be aware the magazine continues to run to this day and the street vendors are synonymous with the streets of Scotland.

In the article, Young says: "We Scots never bought into Margaret Thatcher's 'there's no such thing as society'. People were totally opposed to that whole Conservative philosophy, and I think they bought the Big Issue almost to badge-up, show their defiance.

"We were just in the right place at the right time."

The entrepreneur has developed a habit of being in the right place at the right time and using his circumstances to make sure others find themselves in better positions. Had he not gone on to set up magazines he would not have brought The Big Issue to Scotland. Had that not happened, he may not have founded the International Network of Street Papers the following year.

INSP brings together magazines and publications like The Big Issue from all around the world to help work together in a common cause. It began purely as a network in 1994 while a similar initiative launched in America two years later.

In 2005 it was incorporated as a charity from its Glasgow base and in 2013 merged with the North American Street Newspaper Association to form the INSP as it is now. One that works over five continents with 112 street papers in 35 countries, published in 24 languages.

And without that worldwide base to build on, there may not have been a Homeless World Cup to organise and help highlight the problem through the game of football (with also originated in Young's home nation).

Sponsorship, funding and grants have helped Young along the way fulfil the notion of bringing together countries from around the world for the annual tournament that continues to grow.

His worldwide initiative and drive for social change saw him earn recognition here with his promotion to become the chair of SportScotland where he has been on the board since 2008.

His four-year term began last month ahead of what will bring together all of his interests and previous experience to tackle growing homelessness by putting Scotland front and centre on the world stage once again.

More than 100,000 people are expected to take in the week's action at the heart of Glasgow with games on each day between Sunday and Saturday.

The Scots have been successful in winning the tournament on two occasions with Street Soccer Scotland providing an avenue for those it works with to take part in the HWC each year.

The 2017 tournament is due to be held in Oslo, Norway... That is if the world hasn't changed and Mel achieves his goal of the tournament - and homelessness - ceasing to exist.

The Homeless World Cup will be held in Glasgow's George Square from Sunday July 10 to Saturday 16.

Matches will also be shown live on STV Glasgow and STV Edinburgh. A full list of fixtures can be found below.