Three teams took part in the inaugural Romanian Blind Football Championships which took place this weekend in Cluj. Held at the Fabrica de Sport grounds, the tournament was won by Bacau/Cluj, with Bucharest in second place and Buzau coming in third.

In addition, the Moldavian national team visited the event to play in the International Romanian Cup, coming second to Bacau.
 
The tournament, played in cold bright weather, used a round-robin format. Ulrich Pfisterer, new chairman of the IBSA Football Committee, was on hand to witness progress in developing the game in Romania and Moldova. Uli was invited by Sally Wood, IBSA Europe chairwoman and president of the Romanian Paralympic Committee, to provide expert advice to players, coaches and referees.
 
Final standings 1st Romanian Blind Football Championships
 
1 Bacau
2 Bucharest
3 Buzau/Cluj
 
Final standings International Romanian Cup  
 
1 Bacau
2 Moldavia
3 Bucharest
 
Pro TV, Digi Sport and Transilvania Live, a local TV station, were all on hand to record this momentous event and to broadcast footage nationally.
 
Already the new Romanian national team has set up two friendly matches against German opposition in April before their first major tournament with six other former Eastern European countries in Moscow in May 2014. Buzau has already started a junior under-17 team and a new team is being formed in Mures at this present moment, so football or futsal for the blind is set to continue its strong growth in Romania.

 
NPC Romania is very grateful to Ulrich for his assistance and stalwart advice on all aspects of the game, and to IBSA for support provided through the UEFA-funded IBSA Blind Football Development Project Europe.
 
For more information on blind football in Romania contact [email protected].
 
For more information on blind football contact Ulrich Pfisterer at [email protected].