5-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are ...

at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

was held at the

Olympic Green Hockey Field The Olympic Green Hockey Field () was one of nine temporary venues used for the 2008 Summer Olympics. It hosted the field hockey competitions during the Olympics and the football-5-a-side and 7-a-side events during the 2008 Summer Paralympics. ...

from September 7 and September 17. One event was contested, a men's team competition.

Classification

The tournament was classified as a B1 event, meaning that it was for blind athletes. Athletes wore eyeshades to ensure that vision-impaired and totally blind athletes were level in ability. Goalkeepers could be sighted as long as they had not been registered with

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

since 2003. Each team was also allowed to have a guide behind their opponents' goal to direct players. The ball made a rattling sound when kicked, so fans were required to keep quiet during play.

Teams

Competition format

The six teams started play a

single round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

. Then the top two teams competed for the gold medal, the third and fourth place teams competed for the bronze medal, and the remaining two teams played a match to determine fifth and sixth place.

Group stage

Knockout stage

5th-6th classification

Bronze medal match

Gold medal match

Medallists

References

External links

Official Site of the 2008 Summer ParalympicsIPCIBSA:International Blind Sports Federation
{{Paralympic Games Football 5-a-side

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2008 Summer Paralympics events

Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...