The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Goalball has published new rules for 2022-2024, which come into effect on 1 January.

The revised rulebook follows a consultation with countries, coaches, athletes and referees and will cover the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. It can be downloaded by clicking here.

It also comes after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) published the athlete quotas for Paris 2024 – which saw goalball reduced from 10 teams for men and women, to eight. All team sports at the Paralympics have had their team numbers held at or reduced to this number in order to meet an IPC commitment that athlete numbers would not exceed 4,400 in total.

The rule book contains the qualification tournaments for the next Paralympics, but this must be agreed by the IPC whose qualification guide for Paris 2024 is yet to be published.

According to the IBSA Goalball rulebook the gold and silver medallists from the men’s and women’s competitions at the World Championships will qualify for the Paralympics. The four regional champions from the edition before the Games – currently Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe and the Americas – will also receive a slot if they have not already qualified at the World Championships. A further spot will be available for the winners of a Paralympic ranking tournament, if not already qualified, and the host country of the Paralympics.

Other rule changes or amendments cover numbers of eligible players, jerseys, noises made by players during games, timings for eyeshades checks, the process for extra throws, the procedure for protests, provision of eyeshades and the use of music and announcers.

The 2022-2024 IBSA Goalball Rules and Regulations will be introduced in time for the 2022 IBSA Goalball Americas Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 15-22 February. The next IBSA Goalball World Championships also take place in 2022 in Hangzhou, China, from 6-18 June where the road to Paris 2024 begins.