Blind Football

Blind Football
Football 5-a-side, more commonly known as Blind Football or Blind Soccer, is a variation of association football designed for players who are blind or visually impaired. It is currently a Paralympic sport, and the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) also organizes a World Blind Football Championships.
Overview
According to IBSA, "football for the blind and partially sighted started out as a playground game for school children in special schools for the visually impaired."
Football 5-a-side, also known as blind football and blind futsal, is an adaptation of football for athletes with visual impairments including blindness. The sport, governed by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), is played with modified FIFA rules. The field of play is smaller, and is surrounded by boards. Teams are reduced to five players, including the goalkeeper, per team. Teams may also use one guide, who is positioned off the field of play, to assist in directing players. The ball is equipped with a noise-making device to allow players to locate it by sound. Matches consist of two 20-minute halves, with a ten-minute break at half-time.
Football 5-a-side players are assigned to one of three sport classes based on their level of visual impairment:
B1 – Totally or almost totally blind; from no light perception up to light perception but inability to recognise the shape of a hand.
B2 – Partially sighted; able to recognise the shape of a hand up to a visual acuity of 2/60 or a visual field of less than 5 degrees.
B3 – Partially sighted; visual acuity from 2/60 to 6/60 or visual field from 5 to 20 degrees
Teams are permitted to use sighted athletes as goalkeepers and guides; sighted goalkeepers cannot have been registered with FIFA for at least five years.
Two types of competition exist. For Class B1 games, only athletes with sport class B1 are permitted as players, with the exception of the goalkeepers and the guides, who may be class B2, B3, or sighted. For Class B2/B3 games, teams can field players in sport classes B2 and B3; at least two B2 players must be on the field at all times.
5-a-side football in Europe was developed in Spain. The first Spanish national championships took place in Spain in 1986.
In South America, there are records of a Brazilian Tournament organized in 1980.
European and American Championships took place in 1997, followed by the first World Championships in 1998. The sport was added to the Summer Paralympic Games in 2004.
As of 2022, there were 46 countries in the men's ranking.
Rules
Generally speaking, the rules of blind football are very similar to the rules of futsal. There are, however, some important exceptions:
All players, except for the goalkeeper, are blindfolded.
The ball has been modified to make a jingling or rattling sound.
Players are required to say "voy", "go", or something similar when going for the ball; this alerts the other players about their position.
A guide, positioned outside the field of play, provides instructions to the players.
Notable players
Jefinho
Ricardinho
Results
Men's
B1
Source: IBSA Football – Results
B2/B3 (Partially Sighted)
Source: IBSA Football – Results
Women's
Source: IBSA Football – Results
IBSA Blind Football European Championships
Source:
1997:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Barcelona-1997.pdf
1999:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Porto-1999-results.pdf
2001:
2003:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Manchester-2003-results-.pdf
2005:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-2005-results.pdf
2007:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-2007-results.pdf
2009:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-2009-Nantes-results.pdf
2011:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Turkey-2011-results.pdf
2013:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-2013-results-and-final-standings.pdf
2015:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Hereford-2015-results.pdf
2017:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Berlin-2017-results.pdf
2019:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Rome-2019-results-and-final-standings.pdf
2022:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-Men%C2%B4s-Euros-Final-Report.pdf
Men's B1
Division A
Division B
2017:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/2017-IBSA-Blind-Football-Division-2-European-Championships.pdf
2019:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Division-2-Bucharest-March-2019.pdf
2021:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021-IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-Division-2-results-and-final-standings.pdf
Women's B1
2022: https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-IBSA-Women%C2%B4s-Euros-Final-Standings.pdf
Men's B2/B3
1997:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Partially-Sighted-Football-European-Championships-Barcelona-1997.pdf
1999:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Partially-Sighted-Football-European-Championships-Belarus-1999-results.pdf
2009:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-European-Championships-2009-Nantes-results.pdf
2012:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Partially-Sighted-Football-European-Football-Championships-2012-results.pdf
2014:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Partially-Sighted-Football-European-Championships-2014-Italy-results.pdf
2016:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Partially-Sighted-Football-European-Championships-2016-results.pdf
2018:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Partially-Sighted-Football-European-Championships-Tbilisi-2018-results.pdf
1 Spain 2 Italy 3 Belarus 4 Great Britain 5 Ireland
1 Spain 2 Belarus 3 Great Britain 4 Italy 5 France 6 Russia 7 Greece
BLR UKR ESP FRA IRL ENG ITA TUR
BLR ESP UKR ENG RUS ITA TUR
ESP RUS UKR ENG ITA TUR AUT
UKR FRA GBR TUR ESP
UKR RUS ENG ITA TUR GEO
Euro Challenge Cup
2014:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Euro-Challenge-Cup-2014-results-and-final-standings.pdf
2016:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Euro-Challenge-Cup-2016-Results-and-final-standings-.pdf
2018:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IBSA-Blind-Football-Euro-Challenge-Cup-2018-results-and-final-standings.pdf
2022:https://blindfootball.sport/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/4th-IBSA-Blind-Football-Euro-Challenge-Cup-Stockholm-2022-Final-Report.pdf
See also
Football 5-a-side at the Summer Paralympics
World Blind Football Championships
Paralympic Games
Paralympic soccer
Football 5-a-side at the Asian Para Games
IBSA Blind Football Asian Championships
Blind football in Cameroon
Blind football in Australia
Blind football at the 2023 ASEAN Para Games
Blind football at the 2024 Summer Paralympics
References
External links
International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA)
https://blindfootball.sport/results-and-rankings/world-rankings/
Blind sports