Who is Competing at the Elite Level? Exploring Impairment, Gender, and Nationality of International Blind and Partially-Sighted Footballers

Classification in Para sports aims to create equitable competition. Footballers with vision impairments are allocated to one of three classes (B1, B2 or B3). This work aims to understand the effectiveness and inclusivity of the current classification system. Visual acuity (VA) and/or visual field (VF) of male and female international footballers were extracted anonymously via the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) classification database. 562 individuals were included in the analysis. 88% of footballers were male, and twelve percent were female. 99% percent of footballers were classified solely on their VA, and only 4.50% had VF included within their classification. VA was non-normally distributed for all three classes. Only 2.84% of footballers had a VA between 2.10-2.60logMAR, suggesting that VAs in this range and/or VF impairment may disproportionately impact performance compared to other footballers within their classes. The current classification system does not appear to be inclusive or create equitable competition.