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This story originally appeared in WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games have shown the general public just how vast, extraordinary and often overlooked the world of sport for people with disabilities is. Among the events that have sparked the most interest is blind football, or more precisely, B1 futsal, which demonstrates how visually impaired athletes are able to use extraordinary spatial awareness, as well as speed, precision and technique.
Like all disciplines practiced by blind or visually impaired people, it is regulated by the International Federation of Blind Sports (IBSA), founded in Paris in 1981. Here’s how it works.
B1 indoor football pitch
In this case, a distinction is made between B2/3 futsal, in which visually impaired people participate, and B1 football, in which the majority of players are completely blind. The Paralympic Games include only the latter. B1 football is played on a rectangular field, of the same standard as futsal (40 metres long by 20 metres wide). Fences between 1 and 1.3 metres high run along the field to prevent the ball from leaving the playing area.
Players
Each team consists of four movement players (all of whom are blind and must wear a mask) and a goalkeeper (sighted or visually impaired), who must remain in his own two-meter-deep zone, but can guide his teammates by giving them instructions when defending. However, when playing on offense, the movement players receive instructions from an offensive guide who is also sighted and stands behind the opponent’s goal. When the ball is in the middle of the field, the coach can give instructions to his team. Unlike traditional soccer, there is no penalty for offside, which keeps the game at a fast pace.
The ball and the silence
It is essential that, with the exception of the goalkeeper, offensive guide or coach giving instructions, no one speaks during the game. This is partly because the ball itself is constructed with rattles sewn between the inner tube and outer shell, which allow blind players to visualize their location through sound cues. Spectators are asked to remain strictly silent so as not to disturb the players, who must rely on their hearing, such as when one of the players signals to the others that he is performing an action toward an opponent. The audience is allowed to cheer only after goals.
Match duration
Each B1 futsal match is divided into two halves of 20 minutes each, with a break of up to 10 minutes in between.
The history of sport
It seems that the first blind futsal competitions were held in South America, with Brazil being the pioneer country: in fact, the first championship in this discipline was held in the country in 1980, and Brazil has always won the gold medal since the sport became a Paralympic discipline. The game spread to Europe a few years later, with the first European championship recorded in Spain in 1986. Since 2004, i.e. since the Olympic Games in Athens, B1 futsal has been officially included among the disciplines of the Paralympic Games. In the 2024 edition in Paris, the men’s tournament will be held on a temporary pitch built under the Eiffel Tower.
