What I Learned about Football and Prejudice from Watching Amputee Football

The First Time I Watched Amputee Football was, in fact, yesterday.

Haiti was playing the USA. A round-of-16 match in the Amputee Football World Cup 2022 in Istanbul, Turkey. The match was broadcast on Youtube. No subscription or pass fee were required.

It was not a match of the famous FIFA World Cup initiated by Jules Rimet. Nor a UEFA Champions League duel. Nor any of those matches that enjoy a global audience and unparalleled attention.

It was a match in the 16th edition of the biennial international competition for men’s national amputee football teams, organised by the World Amputee Football Federation (WAFF), from 30 September to 9 October 2022.

So to be informed about the organisation of such a meeting, I had to be curious enough about the news about my native country to know that maybe there was some good national and sports news being written.

But when I went to the match, it was not my chauvinism that surprised me. Nor the joy in the score of the match which ended in favour of Haiti (6–2).

No, what touched me was the pleasure of first times and the discovery of my ignorance.

I had the joy of becoming an apprentice again in watching football. My eyes as a…