Disability Football

Manchester United's disabilty programme was set up in 2000 in line with the FA's Ability Counts campaign.  The award-winning programme has grown into one of the largest  in the premier league and provides on average 10 hours per week of free coaching opportunities for young people and adults with disabilities.  Manchester United was one of the first two disability specific clubs to receive the FA Charter standard award. 

Ability Counts Teams

The Ability Counts programme is open to all disabled players.  Our teams focus on players with sensory and physical disabilities.  Sign communicators are present at all Ability Counts sessions. 

The Foundation currently has four Ability Counts squads: an under-14s pan-disability squad, an under-16s pan-disability squad, an adult pan-disability squad and an amputee squad. 60 players are registered with the four squads which train once a week. 

Training Times

• The under-14s and under -16s train from 6pm-7pm on Mondays at Salford Sports Village, Littleton Road, Salford, M7 3NQ
• The adult and amputee squads train from 8pm-9pm on Thursdays at The Cliff Training Ground, Salford, M7 2HU 

The under-14s, under-16s and adult squads play monthly games in the Greater Manchester Ability Counts Leagues.  The amputee squad play monthly games in the North West Ability Counts league.

Manchester FA Disability Centre of Excellence

We run a centre of excellence in partnership with Manchester FA for talented players from the Ability Counts Leagues. Players are selected from local clubs, including Manchester City, Oldham, Rochdale and Manchester United.  The players are split into three groups (U16, Adult and Goalkeepers) and given advanced coaching by our Football in the Community staff.  The centre acts as a pathway into the seven England national squads.  There are currently six international players in our centre.

The Centre of Excellence is held on Wednesdays between 5:30pm – 7.15pm at the Cliff Training Ground.

Schools and Holiday Courses

As part of our regular schools programme we visit local special schools and deliver fun coaching sessions and games.  We also hold four Special Education Needs (SEN) school tournaments per year at the Cliff Training Ground. 

Our summer programme consists of:

• A regular soccer club for disabled youngsters which runs over a 10 week period and consists of an hour session at the Cliff Training Ground. 
• Deaf only sessions in association with the NDCS Deaf Friendly Football Project.

For all enquires regarding our disability programme, please contact Adam Temple on 0161 708 9451 or email football@mufoundation.org.