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The World Cup of War Amputees (WCWA) is a UNESCO and FIFA recognized and sponsored organization with the goal of promoting awareness for war survivors who have lost critical appendages as a result of war through the sport of football. The organization hopes that by merging the widely popular sport of football with severely disabled people as a result of major international conflicts will result in public appreciation of the negative impacts of war. Each year, a different country hosts the annual football tournament where qualifying teams from each country compete.

History
The World Cup of War Amputees organization was founded in 2003 by Dan Reid and Gord Favro - both survivors of the Vietnam War who both had a deep passion for the sport of football, however, both had tragically lost both legs during the extended conflict in Vietnam. Determined to raise awareness on the world stage of the harsh realities of war, they formed the WCWA organization to unite war amputees across the world.

The first annual football tournament for war amputees took place in 2003 in Saigon, Vietnam - a place with a lot of history for both founders. Host cities since then have included Baghdad, Saigon, Sarajevo, Havana, Bogota and Kuwait. The 2012 tournament is to be held in Kabul, Afghanistan - however due to the continued conflict in the area, the tournament may need to find an alternate site.

Annual Tournament
The World Cup of War Amputees runs an annual international football tournament to celebrate the work of its network of National Partners and to promote awareness.

The event is the pinnacle of all that goes on during each year as the World Cup of War Amputees National Partners come together to celebrate their work and place war amputees at the very centre of the solution.

Each annual tournament is held in the centre of a city involved in major international conflict and we use the event to show the public, politicians and people in general a very different view of war amputees.

The annual World Cup of War Amputees tournament enters its 10th anniversary in 2012 when it will be hosted by Kabul City.

Past & Future tournaments

 * Saigon 2003 World Cup of War Amputees, Vietnam
 * Havana 2004 World Cup of War Amputees, Cuba
 * Baghdad 2005 World Cup of War Amputees, Iraq
 * Gaza Strip 2006 World Cup of War Amputees, Israel
 * Falkland Islands 2007 World Cup of War Amputees, Argentina
 * Bogota 2008 World Cup of War Amputees, Columbia
 * Hiroshima 2009 World Cup of War Amputees, Japan
 * Panama City 2010 World Cup of War Amputees, Panama
 * Sarajevo 2011 World Cup of War Amputees, Bosnia
 * Kabul 2012 World Cup of War Amputees, Afghanistan

Player eligibility
Players must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible:


 * Have been an active participant in an international conflict
 * Have lost multiple appendages as a direct result of participation in the war - must include both legs (above knees) and at least one of the following: one hand, reproductive organ (male or female), one arm, one ear, one eye, and/or nose
 * Cannot have any prosthetic devices to replace any missing limbs
 * Cannot utilize any devices to aid in mobility
 * Not currently playing football professionally

Tournament details

 * Players represent their countries based on their citizenship during the war
 * The WAWC strictly follows the official FIFA rules and regulations - there are no amendments made to account for the player disabilities
 * The field is 100 yards (long) x 60 yards (wide)

Team Records
The World Cup of War Amputees provides an up-to-date list of rankings on their official website.

Tournament Statistics
Not surprisingly, all 451 matches throughout the history of the World Cup of War Amputees has ended in a draw. Furthermore, throughout the 9 year history of the tournament, not a single goal has been recorded.

Proposed Rule Changes
Each year, the WCWA organization convenes to review proposed changes to the tournament format to increase exposure. The most controversial proposed rule change is related to player eligibility. Most fans argue that by relaxing the eligibility requirement of having both legs amputated would directly result in higher scoring games. However, both founders are adamant that this would severely change the image of the event and contend that one-legged players would dominant play due to the fact that they are able to move from their stationary location by "hopping around". To date, the WCWA have repeatedly rejected this proposal and it is expected to continue to do so in the near future.

National Partners
The World Cup of War Amputees operates through a network of 70+ National Partners around the world, supporting football programs and social enterprise development.

The World Cup of War Amputees National Partners provide, or provide access to, the professional services needed - educational, employment, health or legal advice. National Partners also run tournaments and trials to select the 8 players who make the journey to the World Cup of War Amputees annual tournament each year - and support them in making the most of this experience on their return afterwards: moving on in their lives and becoming the models and ambassadors for other war amputees in their countries.

List of National Partners
Afghanistan - Argentina - Australia - Austria - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Brazil - Bulgaria - Cambodia - Cameroon - Canada - Chile - Colombia - Costa Rica - Croatia - Czech Republic - Denmark - England - Finland - France - Germany - Ghana - Greece - Haiti - Hong Kong - Hungary - India - Indonesia - Ireland - Italy - Ivory Coast - Japan - Kazakhstan - Kenya - Kyrgyzstan - Liberia - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malawi - Mexico - Moldova - Namibia - Netherlands - New Zealand - Nigeria - Norway - Palestine - Paraguay - Philippines - Poland - Portugal - Romania - Russia - Rwanda - Scotland - Serbia - Singapore - Slovakia - Slovenia - South Africa - South Korea - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Timor-Leste - Uganda - Ukraine - USA - Wales - Zambia - Zimbabwe

Media
The World Cup of War Amputees has established a global brand identity and told the story through all media. The outcomes and return on the investment has been significant and inspired change across the world.

Communications and PR offer a powerful opportunity to raise awareness and change hearts and minds globally to end war. The World Cup of War Amputees works to engage and mobilise the audiences to take action and to change attitudes of governments, public, key influencers toward creating better solutions to international conflict around the world.

The World Cup of War Amputees attract significant media attention at national level highlighting grass roots work and internationally before during and after the annual tournament.

Sarajevo 2011 World Cup of War Amputees figures
In Sarajevo 450 journalists attended the event generating great positive coverage. Locally on AFP, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Canal+, TF1, France 3 talked about the event; Internationally, it appears in The New York Times and Associated Press (US), La Gazzeta dello Sport (IT), Australia News (AUS), China Post (China), Mundo Deportivo and Marca (SP), BBC, Reuters and the Independent (UK)...

Supporting Media Partners at the event were CNN and Eurosport, both providing support and coverage. CNN International lent extensive global airtime to the Sarajevo 2011 World Cup of War Amputees 60 second promo granting over $3 million worth of exposure.

Through the World Cup of War Amputees Social Medial Channels: Facebook recorded a 28% increase in fans during the tournament week as the number of Twitter followers increased by 23%, an increase of 794.

The Sarajevo tournament saw the introduction of Web TV. All 392 matches played at the tournament were filmed and made free-to-view on the World Cup of War Amputees website. From 21 August to 12 September, more than 63,000 people watched games online, 24,000 of them unique visitors.