Amputee Football is a disabled sport that features seven players on each team, six outfield players and one goalkeeper.
Outfield players have lower extremity amputations and move with aid of Loftstrand Crutches (forearm) but without their Prosthesis and goalkeepers have an upper extremity amputation.
The World Amputee Football Federation is bracing up for what could be considered as history in the making, as the biennial Amputee Football World cup is fast approaching.
The anticipated tournament scheduled to kick off in Istanbul, Turkey from October 1st – 9th, has for the first time attracted 24 countries amongst the five continents across the globe.
Qualification trials have just concluded with Europe featuring Eight Countries, Africa and South America producing four countries, North and Central America together with East Asia having three countries as West Asia comes in with two Countries.
Since its inception by Don Bennett of Seattle, Washington, USA in the late 1900s, Amputee Football has advanced and gained more recognition, with the cup final held from 2003-2018, Angola walking away with the last Prize.
Kenya last featured in the 2014 and 2018 finals, missing out on the opportunity to qualify for the 2022 Amputee World Cup, after being edged out by Morocco in the African qualifiers played out in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Ghana were crowned the New Champions for the first time, after a sterling performance throughout the qualifications taking over from Angola who finished third behind Liberia.
Tanzania and Morocco claimed fourth and fifth positions respectively, as Morocco qualified for the first time and will be hoping to make a competitive debut.
The interesting sport has a thin line from the common Football, as the game of play consists of two 25 minute halves, with a ten minute resting period in between. Both teams are allowed a two-minute time-out per game, however the offside rules do not apply in amputee football.
