UEFA CL Final

Blind football will once again be present at the UEFA Champions League final, which takes place tomorrow Saturday 28th May in Milan, Italy.

An exhibition match featuring blind football is part of the UEFA Champions Festival, a four-day event in the city centre.

Italian club team A.S.D. LIGURIA Calcio Non Vedenti and French outfit Girondins de Bordeaux will meet in a friendly showcase game at 15:30 tomorrow afternoon in the grounds of the Sforzesco Castle in the heart of the city.

Caption: match poster.

As the showcase match takes place just hours before the Champions League final between city rivals Atlético Madrid and Real Madrid, thousands of fans are expected to witness the skills on show from our blind footballers.

The game has come about as a result of IBSA’s ongoing partnership with UEFA, which provides financial support to develop football for blind and partially sighted players in Europe.

UEFA Football and Social Responsibility Report 2014-2015

UEFA has released its Football and Social Responsibility (FSR) Report covering the 2014-2015 season. The report includes information on activities carried out by all of UEFA’s FSR partners, including IBSA.

IBSA is one of UEFA’s core FSR partners, operating within its Football for All portfolio, and has been working with the European football federation for over ten years.

The newly-released report, available here, includes a two-page section (pages 50-51) on the activities the IBSA Blind Football Development Project Europe delivered thanks to UEFA support. It sets out the key facts and figures on participation and equipment delivered to European countries over the reporting period and shows a great photo of Belgium's Kevin Vandenborght celebrating a goal with teammate Alexandre Wespes, and also a quote from Kevin, who was MVP at the 1st IBSA Euro Challenge Cup 2014 in Prague, an event funded by UEFA.

Caption: IBSA section of the UEFA FSR Report 2014-2015.

UEFA FSR Partners Workshop

UEFA held a two-day workshop for its FSR partners earlier this week at its headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. IBSA Blind Football was invited to take part as a core FSR partner.
During the workshop UEFA gave presentations on its anti-doping and medical programme, efforts to eliminate match fixing from football, and social responsibility and sustainability projects at UEFA EURO 2016 in France and UEFA Women’s EURO next year in the Netherlands.

Caption: image of the workshop held at UEFA HQ.
 
IBSA would like to acknowledge and thank UEFA for its ongoing support for football for blind and partially sighted players in Europe.

 
Caption: UEFA Respect logo.