At its meeting in Rio de Janeiro, the IBSA Football Committee took a major decision regarding qualification for the 2017 IBSA Blind Football European Championships which will take place in Berlin, Germany.

Ten teams will compete for the European title from 17-27 August 2017. The committee agreed that the top eight teams at the 2015 European Championships in Hereford, Great Britain, will qualify automatically for Berlin 2017. This means that Turkey, Russia, Spain, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium are assured of a slot at the event.

The remaining slots will be awarded through a qualifying tournament. The tournament is open to Poland and Greece, who finished ninth and tenth respectively in Hereford in 2015, and any other national team wishing to enter and meeting IBSA’s criteria for participation in sanctioned events.

The qualifying tournament will also be the first “IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division 2”. The host of this tournament still has to be found.

The timelines for applications to host the event are as follows:

15 November - deadline to submit application for IBSA sanction.

1 December - IBSA Football Committee announces the winning bid and informs the host country.

The committee recommends that the tournament is held in April 2017.