The draw for the most important goalball competition in the world – the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games – took place in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy, on Monday (3 June).

In the men’s defending Paralympic champions Brazil and World Championships silver medallists China, European champions Ukraine, Americas title holders the USA, African champions Egypt, Asia-Pacific champions Iran, hosts France and IBSA World Games champions Japan all went into the pots to be drawn for the Paralympics between 29 August – 5 September.

In the women’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympic gold medallists Turkiye, Worlds silver medallists South Korea, respective Asia-Pacific, Americas and European champions China, Canada and Israel were drawn alongside France and IBSA World Games top two Japan and Brazil.

Men’s and women’s teams were put into pots to be drawn into two pools – A and B. Those teams that qualified via regional Championships were drawn from pot one, followed by France and the IBSA World Games medallists in pot two.

As the world champions, in the men’s Brazil were automatically placed into the first slot in Pool A and China as the Worlds silver medallists into the first slot in Pool B. In the women’s, as world champions, Turkiye took the first place in Pool A and South Korea in Pool B.

The Paris 2024 draw was carried out by Italian women’s goalball team player Siara Sicher with the presence of IBSA Executive Board Member, Zdenek Barlok, IBSA Goalball Chair, Aurora Zanolin and President of the Local Organising Committee of the 2024 IBSA Goalball European Championships B, Sandro Di Girolamo. The draw was presented by Pedro Figueiredo.

Men’s draw

Of the teams he will face on the court at Paris 2024 to try to defend his team’s men’s title, Brazilian superstar Leomon Moreno said: “I consider the two groups well balanced. Of course, each team is preparing the best way as possible. Brazil has been doing one training phase per month, I believe that now it’s more about working on the psychology for the competition. We have three months until the Paralympic Games, and every day we will dedicate ourselves to the maximum so that we can stay on top.”

Women’s draw

Jessica Vitorino, a key part of the Brazilian women’s efforts, said: “It’s a very strong level in the Paralympics, Brazil’s group has some of the best teams in the world. Each game will be a knockout. We are in very good preparation, we had an excellent result in Malmo [at the Malmö Cup]. Now it’s time to go all out against your opponents!”

Brazilian women’s Head Coach, Alessandro Tosim, said: “In relation to the group stage, analysing the entire context of the competition, you can see that women’s goalball is very even. All teams are strong. Maybe our group is a little stronger. But analysing the Malmö Cup [in Sweden], you saw that several teams beat each other. We had the opportunity to face Turkiye and China in Sweden and we managed to win both, but they were very difficult games. I believe the matches will be extremely balanced.”

Jônatas Castro, Brazilian men’s Head Coach, said: “Overall, I liked it because the groups are balanced. There is no “death group”. The tendency is for the story to be built normally throughout the competition. Specifically about the Brazil group, I liked it because they are teams we are used to playing against. Iran, we faced in the Nations Cup recently, the USA, we have won the last clashes. We know that the Paralympics are different, strategies change, there are no more tests. But I think it was a good group.”

Goalball at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will take place at the South Paris Arena, within Paris Expo, from 29 August – 5 September. Group stages are scheduled for 29 August – 1 September, followed by the knock-out stages from 2-4 September. The competition will reach its climax with the men’s and women’s medal matches on 5 September.

Tickets are available at https://tickets.paris2024.org/

The goalball draw for Paris 2024 was held as part of the 2024 IBSA Goalball European Championships B in Lignano Sabbiadoro. The women’s competition wraps up with the final on Tuesday (4 June), before the men’s gets underway on 6 June.