England amputee team's World Cup dream on hold

England's men's amputee football team could miss the upcoming World Cup in Mexico due to a lack of funding - a prospect the team's former head coach Scott Rogers has called "criminal".

The team, who are the reigning Nations League champions, have set a GoFundMe target of £50,000 to attend November's tournament.

"I see how hard they [the players] work, I see how hard the staff work, I see the sacrifices they make and the families make as well," Rogers told BBC Breakfast.

"To get to this point now and not be able to go potentially, it's criminal really."

The Football Association funds other para national teams, but funding for the amputee programme was cut in 2006.

The England Amputee Football Association has since set up as a charity and it relies on donations and volunteers to support its men's and women's teams, along with a junior pathway.

FA representatives shadowed the men's amputee team at the 2022 World Cup and subsequently made a funding offer, but it fell short of what they felt was needed.

"Our funding model is we come on the television and people donate, and we are so grateful for that - we would love to be able to thank everyone individually for that - but it's not a funding model that is sustainable," Rogers added.

"We have a good relationship with the FA, but the problem is at the moment the information that we are getting back from them is there isn't the funding available to be able to bring amputee football under the FA's umbrella."

In the 2024-25 season, the FA generated a total turnover of £516m with an operating profit of £6m.

Meanwhile, England's men's team earned £21.5m in prize money for finishing third in this summer's World Cup.

"It's crazy. We're kind of battling against the system," said goalkeeper Thomas Atkinson.

"A lot of the teams we are competing against are full-time professionals, they are getting paid daily by clubs and the governing body, their national team fully supports them in everything they do.

"We're definitely not one of those teams."

The team have currently raised £32,427 of their £50,000 goal.

"We're playing as a hobby in a sense. We're having to pay to play whereas they're getting paid to play," Atkinson added.

"I'm not even asking to get paid to play football, I just think we as an organisation, as England – one of the biggest countries in football – shouldn't be having our national team players having to pay to attend tournaments. It's crazy, isn't it?"

BBC Sport has contacted the Football Association for comment.