From Zero to Brazil: The Ten‑Year Journey of Canada’s Women’s Blind Soccer Team

The team will compete at the IBSA Women’s Blind Football American Championship in São Paulo, Brazil, from September 3 to 9, marking Canada’s second appearance at a senior international event.

Matt Greenwood says he began working with blind soccer in 2017 when only eight recreational players were involved. Today, after workshops and community sessions that have reached more than 3,500 people, he estimates there are about 30 competitive players across the country.

The programme became fully established in 2022 after captain Hillary Scanlon responded to a small notice on the Ontario Soccer website and connected with Greenwood, launching a formal national structure.

Canada’s biggest equipment problem is the lack of echo boards – the acoustic walls that help players orient themselves. The country has just one set left from the 2015 Parapan American Games, stored at a camp near Lake Joseph in Muskoka, far from the team’s training base in Pickering. Scanlon broke her hand during the 2022 world championship in Kochi when she ran into those boards, saying she was unfamiliar with how to use them safely.

In March 2025, Canada Soccer signed an agreement with the Canadian Blind Sport Association to take responsibility for blind soccer. The federation now provides administrative support, assigns an administrator to the team, and helps cover uniforms, travel insurance and part of the IBSA registration and classification fees.

Sport Canada has also recommended $50,000 in targeted core funding for blind and Para‑soccer activities in 2026 and 2027, although the money flows through Canada Soccer and does not pay for the trip to Brazil. Players are still relying on fundraising and personal contributions to cover travel costs.

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