iCAN Football programme

The Suffolk FA iCAN Football programme is an inclusive programme which strives to provide footballing opportunities for people in Suffolk of all abilities, especially targeted to those with physical, mental or learning impairments and long-term health conditions.

The iCAN Football Project hopes to give more disabled people the confidence to enjoy football in a safe environment which promotes fun and inclusively for all people regardless of experience and ability. You don’t need to have played football before to get involved!

This programme is also designed to help educate and upskill coaches, players and volunteers about the different challenges and barriers people with a disability may face within the grassroots game. This can be by helping to find simple solutions which can have a positive impact on those players and how to help clubs / teams become fully inclusive.

This could be something as simple as using bigger cones or a different coloured football. Another example could be if a player or parent wants to know more about the disability or impairment specific opportunities within Suffolk or the England Disability Talent Pathway (Para Football), where players have a multi-pathway opportunity to go on and represent their country at the elite level.

Many players with a disability or an impairment will currently be playing at mainstream grassroots football teams – some may be known to the coaches; however, some might not be. Therefore, Suffolk FA wants to help raise awareness of disability football within the county so that we can help upskill / educate coaches, volunteers and clubs so they can provide a fully inclusive and supportive network for the players.

If you have any questions on any of this or would like to have more information about some of the educational sessions and qualifications, then please get in touch.

Wot's Up iCAN Football League

Our iCAN Football League involves over 20 teams from Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. The league has grown massively over the past three years with the standard of football clear for everyone to see. The beauty of the league is that it caters for all abilities and motivation levels.

The league itself is broken down onto divisions – Premiership, Championship, League 1 and League 2. This means we can offer a fully inclusive footballing offer for people who want to play football competitively all the way through to people who want to be involved to spend time with their friends and do some exercise.

We have six central venue league festivals played between October and April, whilst in May we end the season by participating in the Suffolk FA KBB Grassroots festival.

Wot's Up Day Centre have kindly sponsored the league for the last few seasons, enabling us to deliver a high-quality and enjoyable football programme for all involved. The sponsorship has meant we can play at a big open grass central venue, have fully qualified referees at every tournament and help provide bursaries for volunteers / coaches at the clubs to develop and continue on their journey within the game.

We have eight clubs across Suffolk which act as hubs for our iCAN Football programme plus lots of school festivals throughout the year too. These clubs and festivals provide training and match opportunities for players of a wide range of ability and would love new players to join in with them. The information and contact details of our Suffolk clubs is listed below.