Britain’s blind Paralympic football team targets LA 2028 qualification with rising talents set for future stardom – but more club sides are needed if they want to match the levels of Brazil’s dominance

The focus these past ten days has been on the British Paralympians who made it to Paris and flourished, but there has been a particular agony for the football team who didn’t.

Britain’s blind footballers would have shared the Games’ most spectacular stage, in front of the Eiffel Tower, had England not lost on penalties to Turkey in the European Championships semi-final in 2022. The Euros were a ticket to a tournament which has been one of the triumphs of the Paralympics.

While France prepare to face Argentina in the five-a-side sport’s final on Saturday night, England coach Adam Bendall will be putting his players through a training camp at St George’s Park, ahead of a tournament in which they will play USA, Canada and Honduras in San Diego in November.

‘We had so many chances in that game but Turkey put up a block,’ says Bendall, a former Hereford United player who moved into coaching the team after volunteering at the Royal National College for the Blind in the city, which provides one of Britain’s three club sides.

Brazil’s semi-final defeat on penalties to Argentina on Thursday night here has dethroned the side who have won the last five Paralympic titles. That dominance is borne of a huge culture of mass participation – the nation has 35 club sides – and the development of players from a young age.

Brazil’s semi-final defeat on penalties to Argentina on Thursday night here has dethroned the side who have won the last five Paralympic titles

England coach Adam Bendall (pictured) will be putting his players through a training camp at St George’s Park ahead of a November tournament

Bendall and the FA are now bringing through 18 and 19-year-olds of their own. Teenagers Azeem Amir and Eesa Amjid – key to England’s squad – will help bring qualification for LA 2028, it is hoped.

‘They’ve been playing since they were nine and have a really good football age about them,’ Bendall said. ’We’re starting to coach our players from a lot younger and in part that has entailed making more people know that blind football exists.’

Many countries don’t do this. The France side which the whole nation will be watching on Saturday night has many players in their 40s.

Coaches like Bendall are hugely significant during games, as they – as well as the teams’ goalkeepers, who are sighted – communicate to players where the space is. It’s a balance, though. Players intuit where the ball is through a bell in the ball, so coaches must not drown that out

‘That communication is a skill and sometimes we get it wrong,’ Bendall said. ‘Sometimes players are completely autonomous, going off feel.’

Bendall and the FA are now bringing through 18 and 19-year-olds of their own in Eesa Amjid (pictured)

England’s team are now working to bring through the next crop of rising talents in the sport

That’s certainly true of the world’s two outstanding players: Brazil’s Jefinho – the so-called ‘Paralympic Pele’ – and Ricardinho. 

‘They’ve always blown my mind in terms of what they can do,’ says Bendall, whose involvement who before coaching England was as one of the guides behind the goal who taps the posts at free kicks and penalties, so players know where to direct their shot.

Britain would certainly benefit from having more club sides. The British teams competing with Hereford are Merseyside and WBA. Brighton have fielded a team in the past. England’s two goalless draws in Hereford last month against Japan – who have impressed in Paris – showed the potential is there.

‘Such a huge part of any team’s success is based on mutual trust, between players, coach, goalkeeper and guide behind the goal,’ said Bendall. ‘The Brazilians’ dominance showed that. The core of their group has been together for 15 years. We want to build the same kind of group by starting them early. We believe we’re on the right track to share this stage.’