Determining capacity and barriers to disability sport development: the international federation of cerebral palsy football membership perspective

Previously managed by the Cerebral Palsy International Sport and Recreation Association, Cerebral Palsy (CP)-Football is a para-sport for individuals with neurological impairments such as cerebral palsy, stroke, traumatic brain injury or similar neurological impairments. The sport is currently governed by the International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF), a non-profit sport organization based in the Netherlands. Since the first Paralympic event CP football took part in, the 1984 New York Paralympic Games, which had 6 countries (Belgium, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Portugal, and United States) competing for gold, CP-Football has significantly grown with 70 countries from African, Americas, Asian, European, and Oceania regions registered as members of IFCPF. As the world-governing body of CP-Football, IFCPF has been organizing international level events (i.e., World Cup, World Championships, Regional Championships, and U-19 Championships) to allow member organizations to experience high-quality football in world class venues all around the world. In addition, the International Paralympic Committee, coupled with the various National Paralympic Committees have also been supportive of national level tournaments for the development of the sport. Even with its long history and the support from many sport organizations toward growth, several member organizations of the IFCPC are struggling to grow the sport in their countries, and at the same time, compete in international tournaments. The IFCPF are also seeking to continue to develop their women's game which is needed for gender equality and growing participation around the world. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the barriers to and facilitators of growing the sport of CP-Football in IFCPF member organization countries that are in their developmental stages of establishing the sport. In addition, this study seeks to determine the barriers to and facilitators of their participation in international CP-Football events. This study is framed based on an emerging conceptual model within the non-profit and voluntary organization literature, and the organizational capacity framework of Hall et al., used to examine the current issues faced by the IFCPC member organizations around the world.