The Hamburg 2022 tournament, which took place from 1 to 2 October 2022, lived up to its promise with some great matches ! The home team FC St Pauli lost their title to the valiant team of Merseyside BFC.

B1 Finale Master Hambourg 2022
02-10-2022
Merseyside Blind FC – B1	1 - 0	FC St. Pauli – B1

In the match for the third place, the Italians of AC Crema finally got the better of the tenacious Czechs of Avoy Mu Brno after a penalty shootout !

B1 Match troisième place Master Hambourg 2022
02-10-2022
Avoy Mu Brno – B1	0 - 0 1:2	AC Crema – B1

As for the French U23 team, they unfortunately could not qualify for the semi-finals by finishing 5th of the preliminary phase. Our young players had to play the match for the 5th place of the final ranking against the Polish Wilsa Krakow. The victory was acquired in the penalty shoot-out : 2 goals to 1.

If we look at the stats of the competition, only one defeat conceded against the future winner of the tournament, four draws and one victory in the penalty shoot-out. If we have to retain only one conclusion : NO goal was scored in the match by the French U23 team. On the other hand, only one goal was conceded !

The U23 french coach confirmed these impressions at the end of the tournament :

We note a progress of the collective on the mental and defensive level. But we still have a lot of work to do, especially in terms of technique and offense. A nice learning tournament for our youngsters !

Rémi Garranger, head coach of the blind football french U23 team

Final ranking of the Hamburg Master 2022 (15th edition)

• 1st : Merseyside BFC
• 2nd : FC St Pauli
• 3rd : AC Crema
• 4th : Avoy Mu Brno
• 5th : France Espoirs U23
• 6th : Wisla Krakow

The French U23 blind football team is going to Hamburg in Germany this weekend to participate in the 15th edition of this international Master.

The Hamburg Master is now an annual event for the French U23 players. As a reminder, last year, our U23 finished 4th in the tournament.

This year, the French team will face five other teams :

• FC St-Pauli : the title holders
• Avoy Mu Brno : a Czech team
• l’AC Crema : a italian team
• Wisla Krakow : a Polish team from Krakow
• Merseyside BFC : a english team

The tournament will take place with a preliminary phase where each team will play each other once during a single 25 minutes period. A ranking will then be established allowing to organize two semi-finals (1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd) and then a final. The final phase will be played in two 20-minute periods.

The complete program of the preliminary phase of the tournament

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Master Hambourg 2022 phase préliminaire

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01-10-2022
09:00	France Espoirs – B1	0 - 1	Merseyside Blind FC – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
09:40	FC St. Pauli – B1	2 - 0	Wisla Krakow – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
10:20	AC Crema – B1	1 - 0	Avoy Mu Brno – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
12:40	Avoy Mu Brno – B1	0 - 1	Merseyside Blind FC – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
13:20	FC St. Pauli – B1	0 - 0	France Espoirs – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
14:00	Wisla Krakow – B1	0 - 2	AC Crema – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
14:40	France Espoirs – B1	0 - 0	Avoy Mu Brno – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
15:20	AC Crema – B1	0 - 0	FC St. Pauli – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
16:00	Merseyside Blind FC – B1	0 - 0	Wisla Krakow – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
16:40	AC Crema – B1	0 - 0	France Espoirs – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
17:20	Wisla Krakow – B1	0 - 2	Avoy Mu Brno – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
18:00	FC St. Pauli – B1	1 - 0	Merseyside Blind FC – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
02-10-2022
09:00	Avoy Mu Brno – B1	0 - 0	FC St. Pauli – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
09:40	Merseyside Blind FC – B1	1 - 0	AC Crema – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)
10:20	Wisla Krakow – B1	0 - 0	France Espoirs – B1	BZBS (Hambourg)

The updated ranking can be found here

The two closing games of this first edition of the World Grand Prix France kept all their promises !

The third place match : France vs Germany

The match starts in a rather balanced way but very quickly, it is the fighting spirit of Arona SOW which allows France to take the advantage. At the third minute of the game, the local striker recovers a ball in the middle of the field and pushes it in spite of two defenders to the opposing goal. He shoots with power almost in front of the goalkeeper who can’t do anything. The Germans will try during all the match to get back to the score with very good opportunities but the French defense knew how to stay solid ! Final score : 1-0 for France !

The final : Japan vs Brazil

A very intense match : both teams maintained a great pressure on each other. The score remained tied at the end of regulation time and Brazil won in a penalty shootout ! The goalkeepers of both teams made some great saves but Brazil finally scored a goal with their last shot. Victory 0-0 1 penalty kick to 0 for Brazil which wins the World Grand Prix France 2022

Final ranking of the World Grand Prix France 2022

• First place : Brazil
• 2nd place : Japan
• 3rd place : France
• 4th place : Germany
• 5th place : Romania

From Sunday, August 28 to Saturday, September 3, 2022, the World Grand Prix France will take place in Schiltigheim, near Strasbourg. It is an international blind football competition where five nations will compete, including France, recent European champion.

Opening ceremony Sunday August 28 at 1pm

The entire event will be streamed from the opening ceremony. The matches will be commented in French on the Facebook page of the event. English commentary will be available on the event’s Youtube channel.

Here is the match schedule :

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Tableau principal - World Grand Prix France 2022

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28-08-2022
16:30	Roumanie – B1	1 - 2	France – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
19:30	Brésil – B1	0 - 0	Allemagne – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
29-08-2022
16:30	Roumanie – B1	1 - 3	Brésil – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
19:30	Allemagne – B1	0 - 0	Japon – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
30-08-2022
16:30	Japon – B1	3 - 0	Roumanie – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
19:30	France – B1	1 - 4	Brésil – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
01-09-2022
16:30	Brésil – B1	0 - 1	Japon – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
19:30	France – B1	2 - 0	Allemagne – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
02-09-2022
14:30	Allemagne – B1	1 - 0	Roumanie – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
20:00	France – B1	0 - 0	Japon – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim

For any information on the competition, the location of the matches or the latest results, it is here : World Grand Prix France 2022

The French blind football national team

The “Blues” will face famous blind football teams like Brazil, Germany, Japan or Romania.

Here are the players of the French blind football team selected to participate in the competition :

Accessibility for the disabled public

The event will be accessible to people with disabilities, especially visual ones, with :

• a Braille program of the event to be picked up at the information desk
• Braille labels for athletes as well as cups, medals and accreditations
• a 3D map available at the information point at the entrance of the stadium
• Audio description of the games via audio description boxes available at the information point in English and French

Activities throughout the week

In parallel to the competition, activities will be organized to allow the public to discover the different sports practiced by visually impaired athletes.

• discovery of du torball
• discovery of showdown
• blindfolded penalty kick contest
• blind courses to put yourself in situation of visual disability

Good competition to all !

On June 15, 2022, the French B1 blind football team qualified for the European Championship final by beating Germany in a hard-fought match that was narrowly won on penalties.

The big final of this European championship took place on June 17, 2022 and opposed France to Turkey ; a team that the Blues had already faced in the group stages. A completely different game !

This extremely tense final saw periods of domination by both teams with clear chances. The Turkish team, carried by its extremely efficient number 17, often just missed to open the score. The Blues held on and had some good opportunities saved in extremis by an excellent keeper. At the end of the regular time, the score was still 0 to 0.

So it was time for the penalty shootout, under high tension ! For France, Benoît Chevreau keeps the goals. The first two shooters fail. Still 0-0. The situation is unblocked but still equal : 1 goal for each side.

The following Turkish player advances and misses his shot. The french captain, Babacar NIANG, absolutely need to score. He shoots and offers the victory 2 goals to 1 to the French team which becomes European champion !

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Finale Euro 2022

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17-06-2022
17:30	France – B1	0 - 0 2:1	Turquie – B1

A big congratulations to this French team which knew how to get up after the failure of the Paralympic Games of Tokyo 2020. The Blues are back on top of Europe and have qualified for the 2023 World Championships in Birmingham.

Find all the results and the final ranking of the tournament in this article.

In Tokyo, the second day of competition of these Paralympic Games has just ended. There is only one match left to play in the preliminary phases. The semi-finals are already taking shape.

Group A : update

France eliminated from the main draw

The French team, responsible for a bad start against Japan in the first day, was able to show a new face against China in the second game. The French were much more involved and concentrated but it was not enough : China won 1-0 at the very end of the game. The regrets are to be directed on the side of the real counter-performance realized against the Japanese : defeat 4 to 0. Unfortunately, after two defeats, the French cannot play any more the medal and the final phases ; they will be condemned to play the matches of classification. We will know their future opponent tomorrow night.

Brazil already in the semi-finals !

After perfect games with victories each time quite large, Brazil is already assured of its place in the semi-finals. The Paralympic Games are really successful for them at each edition !

Japan or China in the semi-finals ?

It’s the big match tomorrow ! The winner will be qualified for the semi-finals of the Paralympic Games. Both teams have a chance in this match which seems quite open.

France will face Brazil tomorrow at 04h30 French time

Final group match for the French : will they continue to pursue their efforts and succeed in increasing their level of play? To offer a real opposition to Brazil, the best blind football nation in the world, would be a nice reward after the failures of the last days. A good performance would allow France to hang on to the classification match for 5th place in the Paralympics. In case of defeat, the team will play the match for the 7th place.

Group B : update

Argentina in the semi-finals !

Like its South American neighbor, Argentina offered serious games and with its two victories over Morocco and Spain, is assured of moving to the next stage of the competition.

Morocco and Spain: the match for a place in the semi-finals !

As in Group A, there will be a big game tomorrow, Tuesday, August 31 ! Morocco created the surprise by winning 2 goals to 0 against Thailand. They are now equal on points with Spain. Their direct confrontation of tomorrow will determine which of the two nations will go to the semi-finals !

Thailand on the way down

Thailand is in the same situation as France in group A. They are condemned to the exploit this time against Argentina to try to rise a little higher in the Paralympic ranking and avoid the match of the last place.

This Saturday, July 31 and Sunday, August 1, 2021, European blind football turned to the youth and therefore its future. The French U23 team had a meeting with its counterpart from the other side of the Rhine : the German U23 team (under 23).

The objectives of this meeting were multiple with in particular a will of the two countries to create a European and even world dynamics around the young U23 teams.

Moments of exchange and sharing between players and staff

Common trainings were realized with technical exercises animated successively by the French and German staffs. This was an opportunity to exchange on the different training methods and thus to perfect the training of our players. Learning through exchange and openness to others : what could be more beneficial for everyone ?

Two games in real conditions

The two teams played each other in two games : one game on Saturday and one game on Sunday. Here are the results :

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France U23 vs Allemange U23 amical

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31-07-2021
18:00	France Espoirs – B1	0 - 2	Allemagne Espoirs – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim
01-08-2021
10:00	France Espoirs – B1	1 - 7	Allemagne Espoirs – B1	Sporting Club Schiltigheim

The first match

The game was complicated with a lack of defensive organization on the French side. The Germans, with several players already in the senior national team, were much more realistic.
Added to that, the young french players have cruelly lacked offensive actions in this game. It did not take more to our European neighbors to close the game on the final score of 2 goals to 0 to their advantage.

The second match

This second confrontation allowed to set up a better defensive organization on the side of the French. However, it is the physical aspect which was cruelly missing ! Our players were quickly tired, leaving the field free to the German attackers. The final score is severe : 7 goals to 1 for our neighbors !

Hocine SAHRAOUI : first goal scorer in the history of the French U23 team

During the second match, Hocine SAHRAOUI (n°2) scores a goal and finally opens the counter of the U23team, founded in 2019. This is indeed the very first goal in competition for this collective. A release ? The future will tell us. In the meantime, congratulations to Hocine !

In conclusion : hard work and a victory for blind football

Certainly, these two heavy defeats have allowed us to measure the road that remains to be traveled for the French U23 team in its path towards the High Level and Performance. But the desire and the involvement were present, favoring the questioning and the definition of new objectives. It was very hard physically for the young French : the staff is already preparing the future trainings.

The sport, blind football, emerged from this common weekend as a great success. Everyone had fun, was able to exchange and compare their points of view. What to sport other European nations and the organization of future days with U23 teams ? To be continued…

This week-end was made possible thanks to the support of the French-German youth Office. A big thank you to them.

The French U23 national blind football team was in Schiltigheim from May 14 to 16, 2021 for a training camp. Throughout the weekend, the team appeared to be very close-knit, united towards a common goal of progress.

The themes of this training course were the offensive game and the taking of initiatives in match. Capital points in the preparation of their future international tournament of reference at the beginning of October.

Course of this training camp

With one training session on Friday, three on Saturday and one on Sunday morning, the pace was fast. The goal was to analyze the reaction of the players to fatigue : a very common notion in blind football when you have to play several games in the same day.

A session with the U23 always follows the same pattern : presentation of the day’s objectives, 1min30 of silent concentration to better immerse oneself in the session to come, then a scouting of the field. Then come the global warm-ups and the more specific ones with ball.

Always with the aim of developing the offensive qualities of the players, mini-matches with a theme were concocted by the technical staff. For example, the Bleus Espoirs had to compete in teams of three with the following instruction : if a goal was scored, it was only counted if the whole team had crossed the halfway line. The objective was to stimulate the game forward.

Development of creativity

In order to one day reach the highest level, the work is not limited to the blind football field. Many external elements can support the search for performance. This is why the coach of the French U23 team, Rémi Garranger, chose to have his group participate in a theater workshop. Indeed, the notions of creativity, imagination and team cohesion are concepts that can be very useful in a match !

And about the goal keepers ?

While the players were developing their offensive abilities, the goalkeepers were training under the supervision of their specific coach, Benoit Chevreau, goalkeeper of the French senior team. Physical work, development of reflexes and athletic capacities, no respite was given to them.

To sum up?

To conclude, this training camp has shown that our U23 players are full of desire and only want to take up new challenges. The collective is very complicit and evolves together in harmony. Of course, there is still work to do but we can’t help but think that they are on the right track ! We can’t wait for the next games and the realization of the efforts of this beautiful team !

New step in the preparation for the Paralympic Games : France will participate in the World Grand Prix which will also take place in Tokyo from May 30th to June 5th 2021. This is the first official tournament of the IBSA (“International Blind Sport Association”) for almost 18 months !
The French B1 team will be present at this major event in Japan, which will be a rehearsal for the Paralympic Games.

Some of the world’s best blind football teams will be in Tokyo at the end of May 2021. The French will have the opportunity to compete against Japan, Argentina (winner of the previous edition of the World Grand Prix), Thailand and finally Spain. Very nice matches in prospect which will be broadcasted live on the official website of the event.

What will France’s strategy be ?

After a series of games against Spain in April, national coach, Toussaint Akpweh, had the opportunity to test different tactical configurations. Some were successful (including a 4-0 win) while others were less successful.

So the question of the moment seems legitimate : will he, this time, continue to carry out configuration tests or is his goal to win the tournament ?

The situation of the coach is quite delicate. For the players, the staff and all the fans, a victory in a tournament of this importance would be crucial for morale. It would help build confidence before the Games.
On the other hand, the priority objective being the Paralympic medal : isn’t it too early to unveil our strategies ? If our opponents can observe carefully (and they will !) our way of playing, they will have plenty of time to adapt and think of ways to better counter us.

The strategy is going to be complex : to show our strengths to everyone to impress our opponents or not to reveal too much and create the surprise?

World Grand Prix Program

The French B1 team will take off for Tokyo on May 26 with a first match scheduled for May 30, 2021, on the first day of the tournament, against our hosts, Japan.

The opening match is expected to be Thailand versus Spain followed by Japan versus France.

The complete program as well as the selected French players will be communicated very soon on our site.

This event will be without spectators and will respect strict sanitary measures: regular tests of all participants and supervisors, restricted traffic zones and maximum limitation of contacts.

As mentioned above, all the matches will be broadcasted live on the tournament website. There is a time difference of + 7 hours between Paris and Tokyo.

Special coverage in Cécifoot France website

Our website and all our networks Cécifoot France will develop a special coverage so that you can follow this event from France and in French. Dedicated pages will be created to relay the scores, the program, the rankings, the French scorers and of course the links to follow the matches live.

Stay tuned, more information will be coming soon!