Paralympic football
Encyclopedia
Paralympic football consists of adaptations of the sport of association football for athletes with a physical disability
. These sports are typically played using International Federation of Association Football
(FIFA) rules, with modifications to the field of play, equipment, numbers of players, and other rules as required to make the game suitable for the athletes.
The two most prominent versions of Paralympic football are Football 5-a-side, for athletes with visual impairments
, and Football 7-a-side, for athletes with cerebral palsy
.
Football 5-a-side is an adaptation of football for athletes with visual impairment
s 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 25-minute halves, with a ten-minute break at half-time.
Football 5-a-side players assigned to one of three sport classes based on their level of visual impairment:
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.
Football 5-a-side 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.
Brazil was champion of the world tournaments in 1998, 2000 and 2010, and Argentina won in 2002 and 2006.
and other neurological disorders, including stroke
and traumatic brain injury
. The sport is governed by the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association
(CP-ISRA). The sport is played with modified FIFA rules. Among the modifications are a reduced field of play, a reduction in the number of players, elimination of the offside
rule, and permission for one-handed throw-in
s. Matches consist of two thirty-minute halves, with a fifteen-minute half-time break.
Players competing in Football 7-a-side are given a sport class based on their level of disability. Eligible classes are:
Teams must field at least one class C5 or C6 player at all times. No more than two players of class C8 are permitted to play at the same time.
International competition in Football 7-a-side began at the 1978 CP-ISRA International Games in Edinburgh
, Scotland
. The sport was added to the Summer Paralympic Games at the 1984 Summer Paralympics
in New York
, U.S.
, and has been played at every Summer Games since.
American comedian Josh Blue
was member of the US team
at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
, and the 2007 ParaPanAmerican Games.
, teams of United Kingdom
in both types of Paralympic football are permitted to play in the Paralympic Games
.
For 5-a-side Paralympic football, home countries use the unified UK seat, not four individual seats, in IBSA (the governing body of 5-a-side Paralympic football).
Physical disability
A physical disability is any impairment which limits the physical function of one or more limbs or fine or gross motor ability. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders and epilepsy....
. These sports are typically played using International Federation of Association Football
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
(FIFA) rules, with modifications to the field of play, equipment, numbers of players, and other rules as required to make the game suitable for the athletes.
The two most prominent versions of Paralympic football are Football 5-a-side, for athletes with visual impairments
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
, and Football 7-a-side, for athletes with cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
.
Football 5-a-side is an adaptation of football for athletes with visual impairment
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
s including blindness
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define 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 25-minute halves, with a ten-minute break at half-time.
Football 5-a-side players 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 acuityVisual acuityVisual acuity is acuteness or clearness of vision, which is dependent on the sharpness of the retinal focus within the eye and the sensitivity of the interpretative faculty of the brain....
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 guide
A sighted guide is a person who guides a person with blindness or vision impairment.-Paralympic Games:At the Paralympic Games there are various classifications of athletes with a visual impairment....
; 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.
Football 5-a-side in Europe was developed in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. 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
Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...
in 2004.
Brazil was champion of the world tournaments in 1998, 2000 and 2010, and Argentina won in 2002 and 2006.
Football 7-a-side
Football 7-a-side is an adaptation of association football for athletes with cerebral palsyCerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
and other neurological disorders, including stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
and traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury
Traumatic brain injury , also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...
. The sport is governed by the Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association
Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association
The Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association is the international governing body for sports for athletes with cerebral palsy....
(CP-ISRA). The sport is played with modified FIFA rules. Among the modifications are a reduced field of play, a reduction in the number of players, elimination of the offside
Offside (football)
Offside is a law in football which states that if a player is in an offside position when the ball is touched or played by a teammate, he may not become actively involved in the play...
rule, and permission for one-handed throw-in
Throw-in
A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of Association football.-Procedure:The throw-in is taken from the point where the ball crossed the touch-line. The throw-in is taken by the opponents of the player who last touched the ball when it crossed the touch-line, either on the ground or...
s. Matches consist of two thirty-minute halves, with a fifteen-minute half-time break.
Players competing in Football 7-a-side are given a sport class based on their level of disability. Eligible classes are:
- C5: Athletes with difficulties when walking and running, but not in standing or when kicking the ball.
- C6: Athletes with control and co-ordination problems of their upper limbs, especially when running.
- C7: Athletes with hemiplegiaHemiplegiaHemiplegia /he.mə.pliː.dʒiə/ is total paralysis of the arm, leg, and trunk on the same side of the body. Hemiplegia is more severe than hemiparesis, wherein one half of the body has less marked weakness....
. - C8: Minimally disabled athletes; they must meet eligibility criteria and have an obvious impairment that has impact on the sport of football.
Teams must field at least one class C5 or C6 player at all times. No more than two players of class C8 are permitted to play at the same time.
International competition in Football 7-a-side began at the 1978 CP-ISRA International Games in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The sport was added to the Summer Paralympic Games at the 1984 Summer Paralympics
1984 Summer Paralympics
The 1984 Summer Paralympics were the seventh Paralympic Games to be held. They were held in two separate locations, Stoke Mandeville, United Kingdom and in the Mitchel Athletic Complex and Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, United States of America The 1984 Summer Paralympics were the...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and has been played at every Summer Games since.
American comedian Josh Blue
Josh Blue
Josh Blue is an American comedian. He was voted the Last Comic Standing on NBC's reality show Last Comic Standing during its fourth season, which aired May–August 2006...
was member of the US team
United States men's Paralympic soccer team
The United States men's Paralympic soccer team is operated by the United States Soccer Federation. The team is currently training for the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games at Beijing, China. Their coach is Jay Hoffman, former head coach of the United Soccer Leagues Virginia Beach Mariners, and...
at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
2004 Summer Paralympics
The 2004 Summer Paralympics were held in Athens, Greece, from September 17 to September 28. The twelfth Paralympic Games, an estimated 4,000 athletes took part in the Athens programme, with ages ranging from 11 to 66. Paralympic events had already taken place during the 2004 Summer Olympics as...
, and the 2007 ParaPanAmerican Games.
Trivia
Unlike the able-body counterpart in the Olympic GamesOlympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, teams of United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in both types of Paralympic football are permitted to play in the Paralympic Games
Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...
.
For 5-a-side Paralympic football, home countries use the unified UK seat, not four individual seats, in IBSA (the governing body of 5-a-side Paralympic football).
See also
- Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation AssociationCerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation AssociationThe Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association is the international governing body for sports for athletes with cerebral palsy....
- International Blind Sports Federation
- Paralympic gamesParalympic GamesThe Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and Cerebral Palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their...
- Paralympic sportsParalympic sportsThe Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2010, the Summer Paralympics include 20 sports and disciplines and about 420 events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about 64 events...
- British Blind SportBritish Blind SportBritish Blind Sport is a British charity that makes sport and recreational activities accessible to people who are visually impaired. The charity enables blind and partially sighted people to experience the same sporting opportunities as sighted people...
- 2010 IBSA World Blind Football Championship2010 IBSA World Blind Football ChampionshipThe 2010 IBSA World Blind Football Championship is a blind football tournament and the fifth World Blind Football Championship. The competition was staged in the United Kingdom between 14 August and 22 August 2010, and involved ten teams of visually impaired players from around the world competing...
External links
- International Blind Sport Federation - Football 5-a-side
- International Paralympic Committee - Football 5-a-side
- Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association - Football 7-a-side
- International Paralympic Committee - Football 7-a-side
- CPISRA Football 7-a-side World Championships 2007 Official site
- news.bbc.co.uk - How blind football is played