England's reigning Nations League champions in amputee football may not defend their title at the 2026 Amputee World Cup in Mexico this November. The reason is not form, fitness, or selection. It is money. The team cannot afford to get there.

Former head coach Scott Rogers, speaking on BBC Breakfast and subsequently to The Guardian, called the prospect of the team missing the tournament "criminal" (BBC Sport; The Guardian, 22 July 2026). The England Amputee Football Association — a charity run on donations and volunteers — has set up a GoFundMe page with a £50,000 target. As of publication, it had raised £32,427 (BBC Sport).

Amputee football is a seven-a-side game played by people with limb differences, outfield players using forearm crutches and goalkeepers with one arm. The England programme also runs a women's team and a junior pathway. None of it is bankrolled in the way the able-bodied game is.

The Football Association cut funding for amputee football back in 2006. FA representatives shadowed the men's team at the 2022 World Cup and made a funding offer afterwards, but it fell short of what the team felt was needed (BBC Sport). Rogers says the FA has since indicated there is no money available to bring amputee football back under its umbrella. An FA spokesperson told The Guardian: "We continue to work closely with the England Amputee Football Association to support, identify and help deliver their" goals (The Guardian, 22 July 2026).

According to Versus, the FA has provided £1.1 million in preparation funds to the amputee programme (Versus, 23 July 2026). For context, the FA posted a turnover of £516 million with an operating profit of £6 million in the 2024-25 season, while England's able-bodied men earned £21.5 million in prize money alone for finishing third at the summer 2025 World Cup (BBC Sport).

The contrast sharpens when you hear from the players. Goalkeeper Thomas Atkinson says many of the teams England compete against are full-time professionals paid by their clubs and national governing bodies. England's amputee players, he says, have to pay to play — while their rivals get paid to play (BBC Sport).

Rogers described the team's current funding model — appearing on television and hoping the public donates — as unsustainable. The EAFA shared The Guardian's reporting on its official Facebook page, amplifying the story to its own supporters on 23 July (EAFA Facebook, 23 July 2026).

The FA's own documents tell a complicated story. Its equality, diversity and inclusion strategy for 2024-2028, published in November 2024, references amputee football in the context of funding to increase participation from underrepresented groups (The FA, 26 November 2024). The FA Council's annual reports for both 2023-24 and 2024-25 mention disability and amputee football in their committee deliberations (The FA Council Annual Report 2023-24; The FA Council Annual Report 2024-25). BBC Sport has contacted the FA for further comment.

Meanwhile, the clock ticks. The World Cup begins in November. A team that stands among the best in its sport on the planet — the reigning Nations League champions — is roughly £17,000 short of the £50,000 it needs to board a plane to Mexico. If the money does not arrive, England's amputee footballers will stay home, and the tournament will go on without them.