It’s been a busy time for blind football worldwide with a wide range of tournaments and other events taking place in a number of countries and three different continents. Here’s a round-up of recent events in this fast-growing Paralympic sport.

Paraguay vs Argentina

The Argentinean blind football team (affectionately known as Los Murciélagos – The Bats) travelled to Asunción, Paraguay, last weekend to take part in the Brotherhood Cup with their neighbours and rivals. Argentina took the trophy in a three-match series, winning the first game 3-0 (Espinillo[2] and Véliz) and the final game 2-0 (Espinillo and Véliz), while the second game was a tense 0-0 draw.

Argentina was without a number of key players and travelled to Paraguay intent on trying out some new blood in the national team. Following the tournament Martín Demonte, Argentinean national coach, said, “I’m very happy with the individual and team performances. I brought a young team here to Paraguay and some of the young players played a decisive role in the final game.”

Demonte then spoke of his team’s chances at the upcoming IBSA World Blind Football World Championships 2014: “We have a lot of time to keep on working until November when the World Cup comes up in Japan.”

Click here to like The Bats’ Facebook page.

Tournament in Kenya

A friendly tournament involving teams from schools for the blind took place at the end of February, the first such event in the country. Six teams gathered at the Thika School for the Blind for the tournament, organised by Alive & Kicking Kenya.

Japan vs Germany

Japan, organiser of the IBSA Blind Football World Championships 2014, hosted the German national blind football team last week for a friendly game and a tournament involving the Germans and the four top domestic teams.

Germany won the tournament, winning their games with ease, and also defeated Japan 3-0, with Mulgetha, Fangmann and Kofi hitting the back of the net. The trip was an excellent opportunity for the Germans to acclimatise themselves to conditions in Japan, where they will return in November to play in the World Championships for the very first time.

Click here to visit the Japan Blind Football Association web site.

Czech Blind Football League

Match day 1 of the Czech league was a closely fought affair between the two local teams, Blind Sports Club Prague and Avoy MU Brno. Played in Brno, the game ended in a 0-0 draw and had to go to penalties, with the home team coming out on top 1-0 thanks to a goal by Jirka Fenz.