The teams - Spain

European qualifier - Group !

Blind Football or Futsal has its origins in Spain, with the first official national championships anywhere taking place there in 1986.

Spain hoseted the second World Championship in Jerez de la Frontera in 2000 and has also staged the European Championships in Barcelona in 1997 and Malaga in 2005.

In recent times, Spain have been the nearly men. They finished third in Nantes in the European Championship last year, when despite a loss to Greece they finished on top of the group before a 3-2 defeat by England in the semi-final. They went on to to exact revenge on Greece and defeat them in the third place play off to earn the bronze medal.

Four years ago in the World Championship in Buenos Aries, Spain narrowly missed a podium place, finishing fourth overall.

With a tantalising opening game against England, Spain will want to emulate their countrymen who recently won the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Squad list

Adolfo Acosta
Carmelo Garrido
Vicente Aguilar
Marcelo Rosado
Alfredo Cuadrado
Antonio Martín
José Luis Giera
Pedro Villa
Alvaro González
Raúl Díaz

Staff list

Pablo Zalazar (Head Coach)
José Urbano (Coach)
Jorge Egea (Medic)
José Bravo (Physio)