With just four days to go until the opening ceremony and first matches, teams, support staff and officials are gathering in Tokyo, Japan, for the biggest event in the blind football calendar in 2014 – the IBSA Blind Football World Championships.

This year's worlds are the biggest ever, with twelve teams from four continents taking part. It is also the very first time the world championships are taking place in Asia, and the first time a team from Africa is competing at a global blind football competition.

Hosted by the Japanese Blind Football Association, the action kicks off on Sunday with the opening ceremony followed by two matches from Group A, with the hosts taking on Paraguay and France facing newcomers Morocco.

Groups:

Group A

Japan
Paraguay
France
Morocco

Group B

Brazil
Turkey
China
Colombia

Group C

Spain
Argentina
South Korea
Germany

All matches will be streamed live on http://burasakajapan.b-soccer.jp/video/.

These IBSA Blind Football World Championships are the sixth edition of the event. Only two teams have picked up the title and both are Latin American countries: Argentina in 2002 and 2006, and Brazil in 1998, 2000 and 2010.

IBSA will bring you all the news from Japan here on this web site and on the IBSA Blind Football Facebook group. Alternatively, click here to visit the official web site for the championships. 

The hashtag for the IBSA Blind Football World Championships 2014 is #blind2014.