Santen proudly sponsors the IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division 2 2021
On 25 September, the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Blind Football European Championships Division 2 will kick off in Bucharest, Romania.
The four-day event will see four nations – Romania, Poland, Albania and Greece – play blind football to secure two spots at next year’s IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division 1. The Division 2 games are hosted by the Paralympic Committee of Romania and the Association of the Blind in Romania in close partnership with the Romanian Football Federation. All games will be streamed live via the IBSA’s YouTube channel, which also includes the full match schedule.
As a sponsor, Santen’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Shigeo Taniuchi, explains why these games are so important for the ophthalmology community as we continue to strive for greater representation and a more inclusive society:
“Last October, Santen agreed a 10-year partnership with the Japan Blind Football Association and the International Blind Football Foundation to realise an inclusive society in which people with and without visual impairment interact easily and play equal roles. It is an initiative to change personal values and requires long-term commitment, decade by decade.
In this partnership, our vision is to remove the emotional and societal barriers between those with and without visual impairment to create a stage where everyone can play an equal and active role. In order to achieve our vision, we have been engaging in activities that align to three goals: understanding each individual character and strength through collective experience, creating innovations related to vision and improving the quality of lives of people with visual impairment.
The best part of blind football is a pleasant contrast between silence and raptures as cheering and making sounds during the games are prohibited. The goalkeeper is a sighted person and plays with the visually impaired field players. Football is a universal language and so people all over the world can enjoy the game without any explanation.
We see blind football as a symbol of an inclusive society. We are sponsoring the IBSA Blind Football European Championship Division 2 2021, following the IBSA Blind Soccer World Grand Prix 2021 held in Shinagawa, Tokyo in May this year, with the desire to spread this collective experience around the world.
Santen continues to develop various activities to provide people with and without visual impairment with collective experiences so that they can spontaneously interact with one another around the world.”
Document number: NP-SANTEN-EMEA-0226
Date of preparation: September 2021
