The first BRICS+ International Friendly Tournament in Blind Football took place in Moscow from December 18 to 20, 2024. The event was organized by the BRICS-Russia Expert Council with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
The tournament was sponsored by PhosAgro Group as the general sponsor, with VTB Bank (PJSC) as an official partner. The Russian federal sports TV channel MATCH TV served as the media partner. The Organizing Committee was co-chaired by Viktoria Panova, Head of the BRICS-Russia Expert Council, and Alena Peryshkina, Director of the AIDS Infoshare Foundation. The preparation and coordination of the tournament were overseen by Stepan Kanakin, Program Director of the AIDS Infoshare Foundation.
The tournament was a joint initiative of the Russian Blind Football Federation and the BRICS Civil Council, whose establishment was endorsed by BRICS leaders in the Kazan Declaration following the 16th BRICS Summit. Eight teams from seven countries—Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Türkiye—took part in the competition.
Blind football originated in Brazil in 1980, with the first World Championship held in 1998. According to international estimates, around 39 million people worldwide are blind and more than 246 million live with visual impairments. In Russia alone, approximately 20.7 million people experience vision-related health issues.
The Moscow tournament offered a rare opportunity for Russian blind football players to compete at an international professional level. In March 2022, the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) suspended the Russian national team from participating in European championships, effectively preventing Russian athletes from competing in major IBSA-sanctioned tournaments until 2027.
Greetings to the participants and guests were delivered by Maksim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and Special Presidential Representative for BRICS financial and economic cooperation, as well as by Yevgeny Primakov, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo. The opening ceremony was also attended by Rodrigo de Lima Baena Soares, Ambassador of Brazil to the Russian Federation, along with other officials.
Throughout the tournament, athletes emphasized the importance of the event as a platform for international dialogue, exchange of experience, and demonstration of the boundless potential of human resilience and ability. The initiative promotes the principles of depoliticizing sport, fair competition, and inclusive development, building on the momentum created by the BRICS Games.
The tournament concluded with an official closing and awards ceremony. Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Russia’s BRICS Sherpa, highlighted the growing role of sports diplomacy as a unifying force in international relations and expressed hope that Brazil, as BRICS Chair in 2025, would support the organization of a second tournament.
Further details about the event are available on the official website https://bricsfootball.org/en and the Telegram channel BRICS Generation.
The tournament was sponsored by PhosAgro Group as the general sponsor, with VTB Bank (PJSC) as an official partner. The Russian federal sports TV channel MATCH TV served as the media partner. The Organizing Committee was co-chaired by Viktoria Panova, Head of the BRICS-Russia Expert Council, and Alena Peryshkina, Director of the AIDS Infoshare Foundation. The preparation and coordination of the tournament were overseen by Stepan Kanakin, Program Director of the AIDS Infoshare Foundation.
The tournament was a joint initiative of the Russian Blind Football Federation and the BRICS Civil Council, whose establishment was endorsed by BRICS leaders in the Kazan Declaration following the 16th BRICS Summit. Eight teams from seven countries—Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Türkiye—took part in the competition.
Blind football originated in Brazil in 1980, with the first World Championship held in 1998. According to international estimates, around 39 million people worldwide are blind and more than 246 million live with visual impairments. In Russia alone, approximately 20.7 million people experience vision-related health issues.
The Moscow tournament offered a rare opportunity for Russian blind football players to compete at an international professional level. In March 2022, the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) suspended the Russian national team from participating in European championships, effectively preventing Russian athletes from competing in major IBSA-sanctioned tournaments until 2027.
Greetings to the participants and guests were delivered by Maksim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and Special Presidential Representative for BRICS financial and economic cooperation, as well as by Yevgeny Primakov, Head of Rossotrudnichestvo. The opening ceremony was also attended by Rodrigo de Lima Baena Soares, Ambassador of Brazil to the Russian Federation, along with other officials.
Throughout the tournament, athletes emphasized the importance of the event as a platform for international dialogue, exchange of experience, and demonstration of the boundless potential of human resilience and ability. The initiative promotes the principles of depoliticizing sport, fair competition, and inclusive development, building on the momentum created by the BRICS Games.
The tournament concluded with an official closing and awards ceremony. Sergey Ryabkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Russia’s BRICS Sherpa, highlighted the growing role of sports diplomacy as a unifying force in international relations and expressed hope that Brazil, as BRICS Chair in 2025, would support the organization of a second tournament.
Further details about the event are available on the official website https://bricsfootball.org/en and the Telegram channel BRICS Generation.