The IBSA Blind Football Sport Committee released this Thursday the men’s World Ranking List of 2024. With no surprises, the current world champion, the national team of Argentina, is leading the list for the year of the Paralympic Games of Paris 2024.

The ‘Murciélagos’ squad was already the leader in 2023. Brazil, which won the American title in the last edition of the Para PanAmerican Games – Santiago 2023, is second place in the ranking.

The news on the podium comes from the east. Japan, which was fourth in 2023, takes third place due to the fall of Spain to seventh place, making Thailand and China move up to fourth and fifth places, respectively.

France, the host country of the Paralympic Games, and, for that reason, with its spot secured at the major competition, went from 8th to 6th.

Colombia, which won a bronze medal at Santiago 2023 and, for the first time, qualified for the Paralympic Games, actually felt one position, from 11th to 12th.

The current African champion, Morocco, also present in Paris 2024, is the only national team of the continent to stand in the top 10. The next-best-ranked African team is Egypt (21st).

“The IBSA Football family is growing fast after the pandemic. We hit two records in a row, increasing to 61 countries in 2022, and now, for the first time ever in the history of our sport, 64 countries are active. Once again, I would like to invite the players and national coaches to attend the forthcoming forums in order to design more spectacular games in all three lines: blind football for men, football for VI women, and partially sighted football”, said Elias Mastoras, IBSA Football Sport Committee chairperson.

The full men’s World Ranking List can be found here.

As a reminder, the eight national teams qualified for Paris 2024 are: France, Turkiye, Morocco, China, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Japan.