The name of Marcin Oleksy has been engraved in the history of football. On February 27, the Pole became the first amputee player to receive the Puskas Award, awarded by popular vote to the best goal scored over a calendar year among a list previously selected by FIFA. In 2010, when he was 23 years old, he suffered an accident that caused him to lose his left leg and left his right leg in very bad condition. In 2019, however, he returned to playing football, a sport in which he started as a goalkeeper, which he dreamed of being able to practice with his son and that, now, has made him worthy of this historic recognition.

The award has put amputee football in the front line of the media and, according to Alberto Martínez Vassallo, national coordinator of this sport for the Spanish Federation of Sports of People with Physical Disabilities, it can mark a before and after.

"The award puts this sport in its place. It's not new, it's its age, but when I arrived here, four years ago, it was only practiced by 20 or 22 countries. Now there are 50 of us. FIFA has done a phenomenal act with this award for Marcin. From now on I think that every year that The Best is held we will see a disabled athlete as a candidate in one of the categories, "he says.

From his point of view, it would not be extraordinary if televisions decided to broadcast a match soon. However, its presence, both in Spain and in other European countries, is not yet widespread.

League Championship

"In Spain we have only five clubs, although it is also true that we are at the height of other European countries. Now, we are talking to Portugal, so that they also have some team and so we can play with them. Let's see if we take it forward, "says the national coordinator of football for amputees, who points out that this year a league championship will be played for the first time between Spanish clubs. The big goal, however, getting closer and closer, is to enter the Paralympic program.

"We have a commission that is working on it. You have to go slowly. At the moment, from what we have spoken with the members of the International Paralympic Committee, it could enter the program in 2032. However, as next year the Games will be held in France, we are trying to get them to put pressure on their Paralympic committee to be an exhibition sport in Paris from there. If that happened, it could lead many more people to practice it," says Martínez Vassallo.

At the moment, the Spanish team already accumulates several experiences. "In the 2018 World Cup we were eighth and in September last year we were second in the European Cup, but the next World Cup was a disaster. That's why we decided to redo all the technical equipment. Now everything is back on track and we plan to play a friendly in France on March 18, "explains the coordinator of a sport that can be played in the form of five or seven, although at the international level it competes in the latter.

There is no offside, field players use crutches and their leg more useful, while goalkeepers, who must have some amputation or impediment in the upper limbs, have to stick to the body the least useful of them, hide it under the shirt and, in addition, can not leave their area.

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