Teams have gathered at the Romanian Football Federation training centre in Buftea, on the outskirts of Bucharest, for the IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division 2 and a chance to shine at the Europeans Division 1 in Rome in September.

Four teams are in the running for the title of Division 2 Champions, with the top two teams qualifying for Rome 2019. Hosts Romania, Belarus, Georgia and Greece will be looking to secure a slot in Italy when plays begins tomorrow morning.

Georgia is the top-ranked team, sitting at number 20 in the current table, while Romania is 23rd and Greece is 32nd.

Matches will take place on the purpose-built blind football pitch at the RFF national training centre, and teams took advantage of training today to acclimatise themselves to the surface.

Caption: Greece training in Buftea.

Romania will be hoping for a repeat of the results from the first edition of the European Championships Division 2 in Bacau two years ago when they defeated Georgia 1-0 in the final. Greece will hope to improve on its third-place finish in Bacau and return to the top division, and Belarus will be looking to spring a surprise on its debut in the tournament.

Match schedule

Wednesday 27th March
10:45 Romania vs Belarus
15:30 Georgia vs Greece

Thursday 28th March
10:00 Romania vs Georgia
15:30 Greece vs Belarus

Friday 29th March
Rest day

Saturday 30th March
10:00 Georgia vs Belarus
15:30 Romania vs Greece

Prior to the tournament, referees from Romania, France, Czech Republic, Poland and England participated in a referees training course held as part of the UEFA-funded IBSA Blind Football Development Project Europe.

Caption: referee education course at Buftea today.

The IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division 2 are hosted by the Romanian Paralympic Committee in partnership with the Romanian Association of the Blind and the Romanian Football Federation.

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