Para-football excellence in the MENA region

This often overlooked aspect, powered by vast governmental support and financial investments, enhances the lives of people with disabilities through tailored football activities that match their needs, achieving high-level success and creating national heroes whose struggles have turned into inspiring stories. The region's potential to gain international recognition is reflected in this development, influencing and boosting its football profile. Different competitions for various disabilities have gradually grown, demonstrating increased awareness as seen in IPC plans expanding Para-Football involvement in the summer games calendar, with ‘Blind Football’ as the only type officially part of the Paralympics.
Accordingly, several MENA countries have gradually developed their Para-Football base, relying on their population's passion for the game and the prestigious achievements of non-disabled football. These efforts have ignited tangible support for football for disabled individuals, incorporating the values of national football into the disability football community. Investments in hosting mega-events, diversifying government funding for competitions, and emphasizing accessibility in infrastructure plans have all played a role. On-pitch technical knowledge exchange with leading benchmarks has resulted in numerous awareness initiatives for Paralympic football activities.
These efforts have contributed to the creation of a consistent PARA ecosystem with standards almost identical to non-disabled sports' annual calendars. Several types of disabilities now have a large base of specialized clubs and domestic league competitions, some of which have even established sub-divisions. This has contributed to the growth of participation and the formation of competitive national teams, which have gained experience through continental competitions and achieved remarkable success at the highest international levels, successes that were previously unheard of in both disabled and non-disabled categories. Such successes have inspired neighboring countries to adopt similar approaches, boosting Para-football's inclusion in national sports development pillars and providing equal opportunities for all disabled individuals in MENA to contribute to their nations' sporting achievements.
Despite being played significantly among disabled athletes, Para-football has faced challenges in gaining the same recognition as non-disabled football. However, through government initiatives, awareness campaigns, and the successful experiences of countries in the MENA region, there has been significant progress. This growth has led to a shift in how disability sports are perceived, providing opportunities for athletes to break barriers and achieve global success.
For its part, the Cerebral Palsy (CP) has kept its operations as the sole para-football symbol in the Paralympics until Blind Football received action from the (Athens 2004) gate after reaching a decent competitive level that convinced the IPC to expand football's presence. Both types have served jointly for more than a decade until the exclusion of CP after (Rio 2016), leaving the floor to Blind football, which boomed fan attendance growth, reaching (Sold-Out) status several times during recent (Paris 2024).
Iran & Morocco: Different strategies and same success stories
Like many others, MENA countries have spent massive efforts to exploit such recognition as a motivator to enhance their disabled community’s life standards, aiming to gain global appeal through a specific target group, transforming football activities from a CSR initiative to an area of excellence and expertise. Accordingly, several strategies have been followed since the early 2000s. Some countries are dedicating the majority of funding to develop Blind Football due to IPC recognition. Our most famous example in this case is Morocco, where the funding support has strongly prioritized Blind Football by giving central decision-making power the Royal Moroccan Federation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (FRMASAM) as a governmental body, which eases communication with city sports councils and directs the support to the needed areas, raising competitive local clubs that extracted elite talents in the country. A strong national team was formed which has allowed the Atlas Lions to be Africa’s powerhouse in Blind Football since 2013, proved by a leading record of 5 consecutive African Championship titles. This enabled them to participate in 3 Paralympic tournaments, showing outstanding cumulative development which started with minimal participation in Rio ’16 and reached the highest levels when they became a dark horse, clinching the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020.
While Iran have focused on applying a 360-degree strategy on their para-football planning, relying on a vast population base as their main strength. Accordingly, IRI NPC is committed to diversify governmental support across multiple football federations based on sporting success capabilities. Furthermore, Kish Island is giving the country a unique football prestige that they haven't had since the 1970’s, hosting countless continental tournaments and qualifiers in CP and reaching new amputee football levels. So, it’s not a surprise to find the country holding prestigious records across the majority of different disability football mega-events, regardless of any recognition by the IPC.
Accordingly, they're considered a global powerhouse in CP Football as active world champions (2022) and 3-time medalists in the Paralympics (2008 and 2012 Bronze, 2016 Silver). They put on a decent Blind Football performance and were major contenders in the Asian championships, becoming champions of the 2011 tournament and equalizing the dominant giant (China) in Paralympics performance by achieving silver at the 2016 Rio tournament. These facts demonstrate the country's excellence as an exclusive Asian-MENA ambassador throughout the history of the Paralympics in both types, as well as vast expertise in other types that have less international recognition - for example, Deaf football, where they hold an all-time record of 3 gold medals from the Asian-Pacific football games and have earned regular qualification to the Amputee Football World Cup.
Saudi Arabia & Egypt: Expanding football leadership advantages to the disability football world
It's no secret that both countries are considered regional football leaders thanks to their countless achievements, which came due to massive efforts throughout decades of experience with the game. However, football stakeholders there didn't hesitate to provide all the success tools to the disability football community to enrich their leadership profiles, which massively resulted in building national pride and clinching internationally recognized achievements.
Starting with the Kingdom, which is currently considered football's most hot topic thanks to applying #Vision2030 principles to its sports strategy. Nevertheless, their story of involving people with disabilities in football began three decades earlier than the current trend, with Saudi GSA offering unlimited free access to Pro-League games for people with disabilities in the early '90s. Growing gradually until the establishment of the Disability Sports Federation in 1997 under GSA supervision, the inclusion of federation infrastructure in authority mega-projects contributed to the opening of 12 fully equipped centers during the same establishment year, aiming to achieve rapid growth in sporting performance across different Paralympic Sports!
Such facts played a crucial role behind MENA's oldest disability achievement, reflecting the highest values of inclusion as represented in the NPC's successful efforts to convince the Islamic Sports Federation to include intellectual disability Futsal in the '05 Islamic Solidarity Games (a non-disabled event) hosted by Saudi Arabia, ending with a Gold Medal triumph. Moreover, the Green Falcons have shown their world-class sporting abilities on global stages by winning 4 consecutive editions of the (INAS) World Championship, a unique football tournament due to several factors, such as being played on an 11-a-side pitch and hosted by the same nation of the FIFA WC in the same year, sharing the same values and connections with the Olympics and Paralympics. For its part, spreading two decades of success has significantly contributed to expanding the participation base for people with mental impairments, reaching the extent of having vast exposure through a national league with 2 separate divisions sponsored by elite brands.
Moving to Egypt, the country known as an African football powerhouse with its robust infrastructure, which allowed it to host AFCON five times, a legacy that is gradually shifting to disability football levels as well. This was highlighted by the mega opening ceremony of the '23 Amputee Football Championship with the presence of the Minister of Sports, witnessing the Pharaohs' 1st ever qualification to the upcoming World Championship. Moreover, the National Amputee Football Federation took an evolutionary step after convincing Premier League clubs such as Zamalek and Pyramids to establish an Amputee Football sector within their sports departments, granting massive awareness for their football.
Widely, Egypt has a huge participation base and consistent local leagues across several disability football types, but the Pharaohs are gaining excellence in Deaf Football by reaching superbly advanced stages of the World Deaf Football Championship several times, most famously distinguished by reaching the Final of the '12 edition in Turkey as the 1st non-European country!
Maybe Egyptian football has started to be commonly known on a global level due to the rise of Mohamed Salah in 2018 EPL, but his inspiring story was paralleled by a very similar one from a member of the Deaf Team. We're talking about 'Amr Wagdy,' who shared 'MO's' inspiration of playing abroad at the highest European level at his core. Although his trials at professional levels were halted due to his hearing impairment, his real start came during the impressive 2012 journey when he was approached by the Greek Deaf Football side (P.O.K Athens) to represent them in the European Club Championship scheduled for the upcoming year. His journey extended over there, where he led them to triumph in 4 occasions (2014, '15, '17, '18), naming himself as the most titled player with the trophy. Moreover, his connection to Greece didn’t end after his retirement, as he returned to win his favorite championship as assistant coach for PAOK Morias Tripoli, securing their 1st win in their history in 2024, while having four other Egyptians on his squad.
About the author
Fathi Abou El Gadaiel is a researcher and former athlete, currently working at LTT Sports advisory group in Geneva. He holds a Master’s in Football Business Management from Vrije Universteit Brussel (VUB). Fathi is the author of the Global Football Report, African Clubs Landscape and saudi football transformation (Arabic Edition) and specializes in football club management and sports strategic planning.
This article has been edited for clarity by the sportanddev Operating Team
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