Romania has the honor of hosting for the first time, between 1-9 April 2017, in Bacau, the qualification tournament for the European championship for the blind.
The House of Football hosted Thursday the official draw for the two groups that will send two team to the 11th edition of the European tournament. The draw was officiated by the former international Ion Vladoiu, alongside him was the captain of the Romanian National football team for the blind, Mihai Nistor, the vice-president of the Romanian Blind Association, Mihai Dima, and the head coach of the national team for the blind, Sorin Octavian Lapadatu.
Group A: Romania, Ireland, Georgia, Albania
Group B: Greece, Belarus, Czech Republic, Moldova
The first two team from the group stages will go on to play semi-finals; the winners of the semi-finals will win the chance to play in the European Championship in Germany at the end of August this year.
All the official competitions of football for the blind are organized and regulated by the International Blind Sport Association.
The football games for the blind are played on a synthetic field, 5 v 5, in two half of 25 minutes. The goalkeeper has no visual impairs, and the ball used is a special one.
The first edition of the European Championship for the blind took place in Spain, Barcelona, in 1997.
At the European Championship for the blind will take part 10 teams: the first 8 teams that took part in the previous edition (England, 2015) and the first two teams ranked in the tournament in Romania.
The Romanian National team of the blind was created by the Romania Association of the Blind.
Romania Association of the Blind is the representative organization that defends and promotes, for over six decades, the interests of people with visual impairment. The Association has over 50,000 members and covers the entire the country through its 34 branches, being, through history and achievements, one of the most popular non-governmental organizations in Romania. It is representative internationally, as part of European and world specific structures. In undertakes socio-professional cultural, educational and sports activities that no other institution in Romania offers the blind. Therefore, the government granted them in 2008, the public utility status.
The Romanian National Team of the blind had its first international game in 2014, in Germany; since then it participated in tournaments design for countries where this sport is in its beginnings.
Taking part in the qualification tournament for the European Championship is the highlight in the brief history of football for the blind in Romania. And the fact that Romania is also hosting such an important event completes the value of this novel event.
