CP Football

CP Football was developed to allow individuals with Cerebral Palsy to participate in the World’s most popular sport. It comprises of 7 players in each team and a game of two halves of 30 minutes each.

​

Eligibility

CP Football is for ambulant athletes with Cerebral Palsy or an acquired brain injury, and is a team sport played as a recreational activity or competitively at club, national, regional and international level.

​

Classification

The goal of CP Football classification is to ensure all teams are fairly balanced. Each team of seven players must have at least one FT1 player on the field at all times and is not permitted to have more than one FT3 player on the field at a time.

FT1: Most severe impairment
FT2: Moderate impairment
FT3: Minimal impairment

For more on classification : CP Football classification rules

​

Impairment Profiles
A: Bilateral spasticity affecting the lower limbs
B: Athetosis or Ataxia – involuntary movement and coordination problems
C: Unilateral spasticity or hemiplegia

CP Football Classification Rules

Classification provides a structure for competition. Athletes competing in CP Football have Ataxia, Hypertonia or Athetosis - three impairment types that are most commonly associated with individuals having neurological impairment, with a motor control impairment of a cerebral nature, causing a permanent and verifiable Activity Limitation.

  • Hypertonia is a condition marked by an abnormal increase in muscle tension and a reduced ability of a muscle to stretch

  • Ataxia is a neurological sign and symptom that consists of a lack of co-ordination of muscle movements

  • Athetosis is generally characterized by unbalanced, involuntary movements due to constant changes in muscle tone and a difficulty maintaining a symmetrical posture

Athletes competing in CP Football have an impairment that leads to a competitive disadvantage in sport. Consequently, a system has to be put in place to minimize the impact of impairments on sport performance and to ensure the success of an athlete is determined by skill, fitness, power, endurance, tactical ability and mental focus. This system is called classification.

​

A structure for competition

A sport class is a category which groups athletes depending on how much their impairment impacts performance in their sport, and CP Football includes 3 classes, called FT1, FT2, and FT3. As CP Football is a team sport, classification aims at ensuring fairness with regard to the impact of impairment between both teams.

To accomplish this, the players are firstly allocated one of three sport classes. In order to ensure a fair game between two teams, each team (seven players) has to have one FT1 player on the field at all times and is not allowed to have more than one FT3 players on the field.