Following meetings held during this month's Rio 2016 Paralympics, the organisation has taken what they describe as a "major decision" regarding the tournament in the German capital.

Ten teams will participate in Berlin between August 17 and 27 next year, with IBSA ruling that the top eight from the 2015 European Championships in Hereford in England would qualify automatically.

That means champions Turkey and runners-up Russia, as well as Spain, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, are all assured of a place.

The qualification tournament will be held to decide two countries to join them with Poland and Greece - ninth and 10th respectively in Hereford - invited to compete.

Other countries are also permitted to enter providing they meet IBSA's criteria for participation.

The tournament will be known as the IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division Two and will be the first of its kind to be held.

Host countries are now invited to come forward with a deadline of November 15 for submitting an application.

A winning bid will then be revealed by IBSA on December 1, with the hope of staging the event in April.

"The Committee took these decisions in order to give all countries the opportunity to qualify for the European Championships in Berlin, and taking into account the recent strong growth in the number of national blind football teams in Europe," an IBSA statement said.

Blind football - which features five-a-side teams - provided a big moment for host nation Brazil at the Rio Paralympics.

They beat Iran 1-0 in the final to win the gold medal.