Inclusive Football in Barcelona: Building Amputee Football for Everyone
Sponsored by Vaya Sports.
Image courtesy of Vaya Sports.
On a Saturday afternoon in Barcelona, the changing room tells its own story. Among football boots and water bottles, a couple of prosthetic legs rest casually against the wall. Outside on the pitch, a long row of crutches lies neatly lined up along the touchline, waiting for the players to arrive.
This is not a rehabilitation session or a closed training group. It is inclusive football, open to everyone, and it is being built by Equipo Sin Barreras in collaboration with Vaya, led by Suzan Beers and Brit Hermans.
Beers moved to Barcelona seven years ago and quickly found her community through football. In her very first week in the city, she joined a pick-up game and met Hermans, a fellow Dutch football enthusiast active in Barcelona’s pick-up football scene. They soon became teammates in a women’s team and close friends, bonding over weekly matches and a shared love of the game.
That friendship took on new meaning when Beers was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. After years of treatments and surgeries, doctors eventually concluded that the only remaining option was to amputate her leg. In October 2024, Beers underwent the life-changing operation.
Football, however, remained central to her life. Determined to keep playing, Beers looked for amputee football in Barcelona, and found none. Rather than wait, she decided to create it herself. She reached out to Hermans—founder of pick-up football app Vaya—for help, and together they began contacting amputees and organizing sessions that could welcome players with and without disabilities on the same pitch.
Image courtesy of Vaya Sports.
The format they developed is simple but carefully designed. Training sessions combine adapted exercises with a match of two halves of 20 minutes. Crutches are provided for those who need them, while non-disabled players can choose to use the crutches to experience the game differently or play without them, keeping their hands behind their backs and limiting themselves to three touches on the ball. Goalkeepers play using only one arm.
The rules are about creating balance, encouraging teamwork and making the game enjoyable for everyone, regardless of physical ability.
“We wanted to avoid separating people,” Beers explains. “The idea is not amputee football next to regular football, but football together. For me, what matters most is that I can play with my friends, with former teammates, and that we can enjoy the sport together.”
The first inclusive football sessions began in October 2025. Since then, Beers and Hermans have been organizing monthly games, slowly building a community that reflects the diversity of the city itself. Players come with different abilities, backgrounds and levels of experience, but all share the same pitch and the same rules.
The organizers now hope to increase the frequency of the sessions to bi-weekly games, responding to growing interest and demand. Looking further ahead, they also plan to introduce inclusive football for children in the second half of 2026.
“Kids love football,” Beers says. “They adapt incredibly fast and have fewer biases. If they grow up playing this way, inclusion becomes normal rather than something special.”
In a city known worldwide for football excellence, the project led by Beers and Hermans offers a different vision of the sport. Here, football is not about performance or perfection, but about presence. It is all about sharing a pitch, and rediscovering the game as something that truly belongs to everyone.
Image courtesy of Vaya Sports.
What is Vaya?
Vaya is an app designed to make football in Barcelona more inclusive and accessible to everyone. At its heart, Vaya organizes daily pick-up games across the city, allowing players to sign up individually or with friends. Each session is hosted by a Vaya organizer, who takes care of everything on the ground—from creating balanced teams to providing balls and bibs—so players can simply show up and enjoy the game.
Games are available for men, women and mixed groups, reflecting Vaya’s commitment to diversity and community. Beyond casual football matches, Vaya also offers private sessions, field rentals, training and tournaments making it a flexible platform for anyone looking to play, train, or simply reconnect with the joy of football in Barcelona.
Want to join them?
Whatsapp: +34 603 024 181
E-mail: info@vaya-sports.com
Or download the app here: https://onelink.to/26mkjq
Sponsored by Vaya Sports.
