The IBF Foundation Let’s Play 4! grant programme aims to provide organizations involved in blind football or wishing to start practicing it with the equipment they need to play the sport. The grant program, open for applications from June 8th 2022 to July 3rd 2022, drew 29 applications from 19 different countries, and at a recent meeting of the IBF Foundation Board of Directors grants were approved for 15 applications.
The selection committee was made up of IBF Foundation members and the selection criteria were the purpose and target of the project and the organizational capability of the entity applying for support. Upon their request, IBF Foundation will donate balls, non-official eyemasks and IBSA-approved eyemasks to organizations at no cost to them for purchasing or shipping.
The organizations approved are National Paralympic Committee (NPCs), National Sports Federations (NFs), clubs, schools and organizations of and for visually impaired people. The fourth edition of the Let‘s Play program was characterised by applications received from countries with which we had no previous connection.
Through playing, visually impaired people can also connect with their peers and experience personal growth. This means that the possibilities for the visually impaired are expanding.
We are pleased to announce the list of recipients:
1 Birmingham County FA England
2 Cambridge United Youth and Community Trust England
3 Colchester United Football in the Community England
4 Exeter City Community Trust England
5 Football Association for the Blind of Bengal India
6 Assiraj Iraqi Organization for the Blind Iraq
7 Kyrgyz National Paralympic Committee Kyrgyz Republic
8 Lesotho National League of Visually Impaired Persons (LNLVIP) Lesotho
9 Club Sportif Tamkin C.S.T. Morocco
10 Philippine National School for the Blind Philippines
11 Andalusian Federation of Sports for the Blind (FADEC) Spain
12 Zanzibar National Association of the Blind (ZANAB) Tanzania
13 The Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) Netherlands
14 National Paralympic Committee of Zambia Zambia
15 Zimbabwe National League of the Blind Zimbabwe