The European Amputee Football Federation (EAFF) is the administrative body for

amputee football Amputee football is a disabled sport played with seven players on each team (six outfield players and one goalkeeper). Outfield players have lower extremity amputations, and goalkeepers have an upper extremity amputation. Outfield players use lof ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

representing the national amputee football associations.

History

The European Amputee Football Federation was established by ten countries in its inaugural congress held in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland in February 2015. The initial member countries were England, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Republic of Ireland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine. Belgium, Georgia and the Netherlands joined the federation later. Mateusz Widłak from Poland was elected as its first president, and Simon Baker from Ireland the Secretary General. The same year, the EAFF gained the support of the Union of European Football Associations (

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

) within its portfolio "Football for All Abilities".

Program and projects

The EAFF runs a nation competition as the

European Amputee Football Championship The European Amputee Football Championship is a quadrennial European tournament in the association football sport for amputee people It is organized by the European Amputee Football Federation (EAFF). It was first held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2017. ...

. The first edition of the championship was held in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey in October 2017. Backed by the UEFA, the EAFF has set up projects including amputee and limb impaired children's football and conferences for coaches and referees. It is envisioned that the amputee football will be recognized as part of the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

. The second European championship will be played in Krakow from September 12 -19 (2021) 2017 European Amputee Football Championship 2021 European Amputee Football Championship

References

{{reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/social-responsibility/news/newsid=2232206.html?redirectFromOrg=true , publisher=UEFA , title=Amputee football gains UEFA support , date=2015-04-09 , access-date=2017-10-15 {{cite news , url=http://www.beyondsport.org/articles/the-european-amputee-football-federation-is-hosting-the-first-eaf-championship-in-istanbul/ , newspaper=Beyond Sport , title=The European Amputee Football Federation is hosting the first EAF Championship in Istanbul , access-date=2017-10-15 {{cite web , url=http://www.worldamputeefootball.com/ , publisher=World Amputee Football federation , title=İreland's Simon Baker Honored for Service to Football , access-date=2017-10-15 Amputee football governing bodies in Europe Sports governing bodies in Europe Supraorganizations Sports organizations established in 2015