The 2010 IBSA World Blind Football Championship is a blind football tournament and the fifth World Blind Football Championship. The competition was staged in the United Kingdom between 14 August and 22 August 2010, and involved ten teams of visually impaired players from around the world competing to be crowned world champion. It was won for the third time by Brazil, who defeated Spain 2–0 in the final.

The tournament

The championships, which took place at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, was the first to have been held in the United Kingdom. The draw for the 2010 World Blind Football Championship was held on Monday 12 April 2010 at Wembley Stadium in London and overseen by Sir Trevor Brooking, the Football Association's Director of Football Development, and George Cohen, who was part of England's winning team at the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

The tournament got under way on the afternoon of Saturday 14 August with the opening match between England and Spain. Brazil won the tournament after beating Spain 2–0 in the final on 22 August. It was the third occasion on which Brazil have won the competition, and their team's striker, Jefferson Goncalves, was named Player of the tournament for what was described by the Hereford Times as an outstanding performance. Host nation England achieved their best result to date, coming fourth overall, but missing out on a medal after losing 5–1 to Brazil in the semi-final, then to China in the third place play off. Feng Ya Wang of China was named Young player of the tournament, while Antonio Martin of Spain won the Golden Boot. Martin's Spanish team-mate, Alfredo Gonzalez, was voted the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Japan was presented with the Fair Play trophy by Mayor of Hereford, Councillor Anna Toon.

Results

Group stage

Group A

England0 - 1Spain14 August
Colombia0 - 0Japan15 August
Spain2 - 0Colombia16 August
England2 - 1South Korea16 August
Spain1 - 0South Korea17 August
England2 - 0Japan17 August
Spain2 - 0Japan18 August
Colombia3 - 1South Korea18 August
Japan0 - 0South Korea19 August
England1 - 0Colombia19 August

Group B

Argentina0 - 1France15 August
Brazil2 - 0China15 August
France0 - 1Brazil16 August
Argentina3 - 0Greece16 August
France2 - 0Greece17 August
Argentina0 - 1China17 August
France1 - 1China18 August
Brazil3 - 0Greece18 August
China4 - 1Greece19 August
Argentina0 - 0Brazil19 August

Knockout stage

9th place play-off

South Korea0 - 1Greece21 Augustaet (0 - 1 at full-time)

Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

Spain1 - 0China21 August;aet (1 - 0 at full-time)

Semi-final 2

Brazil5 - 1England21 Augustaet (5 - 1 at full-time)

7th place play-off

Japan0 - 1Argentina21 Augustaet (0 - 1 at full-time)

5th place play-off

Colombia0 - 0France21 Augustaet (0 - 0 at full-time) ; / France win 1 - 2 on penalties

3rd place play-off

China1 - 0England22 Augustaet (1 - 0 at full-time)

Final

Spain0 - 2Brazil22 Augustaet (0 - 2 at full-time)

Positions

  1. Brazil
  2. Spain
  3. China
  4. Great Britain
  5. France
  6. Colombia
  7. Argentina
  8. Japan
  9. Greece
  10. South Korea

External links

  • . BBC News. BBC. 22 August 2010.