The FA Disability Cup has just enjoyed its fourth year and is the largest competition of its kind in this country, ensuring that players within impairment-specific football have a national FA competition to call their own, complete with dreams of reaching St. George’s Park for finals weekend. The FA Disability Cup returned to St George’s Park on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 June 2019 with five cup finals taking place across the weekend delivered in partnership with a range of impairment-specific organisations.
Five hard-fought finals, which included Amputee, Blind, Cerebral Palsy, Partially Sighted and Powerchair football, were contested by some of the nation’s most successful grassroots teams who competed to be crowned national champions in their respective discipline.
The players competing across the weekend were cheered on by a jubilant crowd of friends and family who joined media outlets such as Sky Sports News and ITV in celebrating the importance of disability football and the impact it has on those that play.
It is our ambition that the FA Disability Cup Finals weekend will become a key date in the football calendar, with St. George’s Park providing a world-class backdrop for the culmination of each partner competition’s cup final.
See highlights of the 2019 finals weekend at St George’s Park below!
The Wheelchair Football Association’s national league was established for the 2005-06 season, with six teams competing at three weekend events.
The WFA has worked with the FA to develop the sport and provide a complete player pathway from grassroots participation to national league competition and international selection.
Now in its 13th season, the national league competition comprises of Premiership and Championship divisions with 24 teams competing over a series of 11 weekends.
The events are held at the Lee Westwood Sports Centre at Nottingham Trent University. This season the competition is sponsored by Muscular Dystrophy UK. The national competition structure is supported by six regional league competitions and a play-off process which sees teams promoted and relegated within the pyramid.
In 2011, the WFA Cup was launched. This is a competition that is open to all affiliated powerchair football clubs within England and operates on a home or away basis.
The first two rounds operate on a north and south divide, with Premiership teams receiving a bye into round two. And 2018-19’s WFA Cup saw 27 teams enter the competition - their highest ever, with the final taking place at St. George’s Park as part of the FA Disability Cup Finals weekend.