16th Edition of Blind Football Masters at FC St. Pauli

At this year’s Blind Football Masters “Keep your mind wide open”, Merseyside Blind FC were able to defend their title from the previous year. The English team beat FC St. Pauli (FCSP) and the French U23 national team and won all their matches. The FCSP women won their two matches against the French women from SC Schiltigheim in no less commanding fashion.

After four successes in a row, Merseyside Blind FC ended the winning streak of the FCSP blind footballers last year and lifted the trophy for the first time. Of course, FCSP was eager to reclaim the title this year. In the first and second legs, the three teams played very exciting matches.

For their team, the first match was against the French U23 team. In good weather conditions, an intense game developed. The Brown and Whites had the better chances and Paul Ruge took advantage of one of them from an acute angle to score the 1:0 winner. The start of the second match against Merseyside could not have gone better for their team. Immediately after kick-off, Serdal Çelebi served Philipp Versen, who was running forward, and he scored from a half-right position after just nine seconds. That was not to be the end of the game, however, as the strong English side turned the game around to win 2-1 in the end. Merseyside did not get off to a good start against France U23s, but deserved to win 2-0 in the end.

As in the previous year, the women’s team met the French women of SC Schiltigheim in the Masters and their team showed a strong team performance in the first leg on Saturday. Thoya Küster stood out in the strong collective, scoring all four goals in the 4-0 win. Küster, who was still injured after a collision with an opponent the day before, scored two more goals to secure a 2-0 victory.

Defending champions Merseyside started the second day of the Masters with a narrow but deserved 2-1 win over France’s U23s. So the FCSP team had to win both its games against the French and the English to lift the winner’s trophy again, as it did last time in 2021. However, because the Brown and Whites lost 0:1 to the French, it was already clear before the final match against Merseyside that the English would defend their title.

Even though the tension had faded a little due to the decision that had already been made, both teams once again showed a great game and the spectators experienced the highest-scoring match of the weekend.

After the tournament, all teams praised the great organisation of the Masters, which offered many exciting games. During the award ceremony, FCSP coach Wolf Schmidt thanked all the spectators for coming, all the teams for great and fair matches, all the volunteers for their commitment and the sponsors for their support. In the evening, all teams and helpers enjoyed the Masters together in the fan rooms.