A Ball for All event sensitises able-bodied athletes

Education Minister Prodromos Prodromou on Monday visited the School for the Blind in Nicosia where a blind football game was organised between visually impaired pupils and abled-bodied young visitors who signed up for the initiative

Blind football is a variation of futsal designed for players who are blind or visually impaired. It is currently a Paralympic sport, and the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) also organises a World Championship. In blind football, the ball is modified to make a jingling or rattling sound.

A guide, positioned outside the field of play, also provides instructions to the players.

“It is indeed with great pleasure that I am here today to share this wonderful experience with everyone,” Prodromou said.

“Today I witnessed not only a football game in which visually impaired children are able to take part. I also saw game between children who have a disability and others who do not, so they are able to grasp and understand just how difficult is to live with a disability,” the minister said.

The special event at the School for the Blind was named A Ball For All, organised in cooperation with NGO Goal in Life, a voluntary body of footballers established on the initiative of Cyprus and AEK Larnaca former captain Constantinos Charalambides.

“Thanks to today’s event, we all learnt a valuable lesson about education, cooperation without discrimination and exclusion.

“I hope that we will be able to organise more of these matches all over Cyprus and give the opportunity to children with visual disabilities to enjoy football just as much as everyone else,” Prodromou concluded.