Ghana's amputee footballers strive for international glory

Published July 12, 2014
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP
-Photo by AFP

While footballers around the globe have their eyes on Brazil, Ghana's national amputee football team is gearing up to compete in a world cup of its own in Mexico later this year. But standing between the Black Challenge side and victory in the 2014 Amputee Football World Cup are not just old foes such as Argentina and Liberia. The team's ability to attract support for their unique brand of football is also in the balance, and unless they can raise the money needed to fund the trip, they may not go at all. That hasn't stopped them preparing. The rules in amputee football are much the same as in regular soccer, albeit adapted to take into account what the World Amputee Football Federation calls its “abbreviated” players.International matches are played with seven on each side for two 25 minute periods, there is no offside and kick-ins replace throw-ins. Outfield players -- all of them missing either an entire single lower limb or part of one -- dash across the field on metal crutches, using them for support as they jostle for the ball and kick goals home. People with one missing or malformed arm are enlisted as goalkeepers. While the ranks of Angola and Sierra Leone's amputee football teams are made up of those who lost limbs in brutal conflict, most of Ghana's players were victims of accidents or illness.

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