The tournament, which will also act as a qualifying tournament for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, with the top two sides guaranteeing themselves a spot in Brazil, is due to take place at the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) in Hereford, Great Britain, from August 20 to 29.

Group A sees hosts England drawn against Turkey, Germany, Italy and newcomers Poland.

Reigning European champions Spain have been drawn in Group B and are joined by France, Russia, Greece and tournament first-timers Belgium.

"It's a similar group to the last Euros we played in and we certainly have some old scores to settle," said Jon Pugh, head coach of the England five-a-side blind football team.

"In football, England and Germany share a great rivalry; however they're an up and coming team that we should beat."

Accompanying Sir Philip for the draw was Tony Larkin, director at RNC and former head coach of the England and Great Britain blind football team, and Jeff Davis, head of disability sport at the English Football Association (FA) and an IBSA representative.

The English FA recently announced an additional £1 million ($1.6 million/€1.3 million) of funding for five-a-side blind football over the next two years, and it is hoped that the team is in a strong position to qualify for Rio 2016.

A total of 10 nations will compete at the 2015 IBSA Blind Football European Championships ©Getty Images



"When I was young, there were no pathways to play for school, club or country; there has been a lot of effort gone into creating blind football as a formidable sport," said Dave Clarke, former England and Great Britain blind football captain.

"What is important is what we do now.

"It's vital that not just Hereford but the whole country gets behind the Euros in 2015.

"Let's give our own team a fantastic chance of winning not just this tournament but also the Paralympics in Rio."

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