Visually-impaired Paralympic footballer scores goal without looking: Rio 2016

The question is: How?

Belmont Lay | September 13, 2016, 05:45 PM

Iran defeated Morocco 2-0 in the Pool A of the 2016 Paralympic Games on Sunday, Sept. 11, 2016.

Hossein Rajabpour and Behzad Zadaliasghar scored for the Iranian team.

The current 5-a-side football competition at Rio 2016, also known as futsal, is an adaptation of football for athletes with visual impairments, including complete blindness.

There are varying classes for the competition, based on the level of visual impairment.

But first, check out this literal no-look second goal by Iran:

So, how do players pull off such goal-scoring feats with limited visual cues?

Paralympic football is played with modified FIFA rules.

For example, the field has been made smaller and is surrounded by boards.

Teams are reduced to five players, including the goalkeeper, per team.

Teams may also use one guide, who is positioned off the field of play, to assist in directing players.

Moreover, the ball is equipped with a noise-making device to allow players to locate it by sound.

Matches consist of two 25-minute halves, with a ten-minute break at half-time.

Depending on the competition rules and the varying degrees of visual impairment of the players, teams are permitted to use sighted athletes as goalkeepers and guides.

This explains why there was a lot of shouting in the video and players were highly aware of the ball's location without looking.

Brazil was champion of the world tournaments in 1998, 2000, 2010 and 2014.

 

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