England amputee team races to fund World Cup trip
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- England's men's amputee football team could miss November's World Cup in Mexico due to a lack of funding, prompting former head coach Scott Rogers to call the prospect 'criminal.'
- The England Amputee Football Association set a £50,000 GoFundMe target and has raised £32,427, operating as a charity since FA funding for the amputee programme was cut in 2006.
- The Football Association sent representatives to shadow the team at the 2022 World Cup and subsequently made a funding offer, but the association deemed it insufficient to bring amputee football under the FA's umbrella.
- The FA's finances stand in stark contrast: £516m in total turnover and £6m in operating profit in 2024-25, while England's senior men's team alone earned £21.5m in prize money for finishing third at this summer's World Cup.
- Goalkeeper Thomas Atkinson said England players pay to play while opponents are full-time professionals funded by clubs and national governing bodies, calling it 'crazy' that one of football's biggest nations has national-team players paying to attend tournaments.
Why it matters: The funding gap exposes structural inequity within English football: a programme cut in 2006 now relies on GoFundMe while the FA turned over £516m last season and the senior men's team earned £21.5m for third place. Players represent England internationally while personally covering tournament costs.
