Blind football (soccer), 5-a-side

Blind football is a new up-coming ball game, called 5-a-side, when played at international level. Blind football is categorized as B1, using players with no sight. The classifications B2 and B3 relate to the version of the game played by those with partial sight. Many soccer clubs have a special division for football for the visually impaired integrated in their club structure.

There are only five players on each team, and the only player on the team with sight is the goalkeeper. Everyone else is wearing masks and some also head protection. The goalkeeper may not leave his/her area around the goal.

Five-a-side is played with a size 3 futsal ball with bells and a low bounce. The players locate the ball purely by sound, and they are directed around the pitch by other players, the manager, a shooting assistant behind the goal and the goalkeeper.

It is very important, that the audience is quiet during the game. This makes the tension rise and results in an explosion of noise, when a goal is scored.
There are no offside rules in the game, and the pitch is surrounded by boards. Each half lasts for 25 minutes, though with the clock stopping whenever the ball goes out of play matches can last for significantly longer than 50 minutes.

Due to the increasing interest, the international competition is getting much better, and the games more exciting, this results in increased financial investment from a lot of countries and of course an increasing number of fans around the world.

Handi Life Sport produce a beautiful and well functioning ball for Five-a-side, approved by IBSA. The Handi Life Sport ball is used world wide, and is the official ball of the German league.

Look at this little film about Blind football played to the UEFA Champions Berlin - FCG de Bordeaux vs MTV Stuttgart