Blind football: Théo Liffaud… “I’ve never set boundaries on myself.”

Théo Liffaud, 27, winner of the Banque Populaire Foundation award in 2024, has been blind from a very early age. He became interested in blind football in 2017 and made it his vocation. He plays for the Joker’s club in Clermont-Ferrand. We publish below a portrait of a young man pursuing a multitude of initiatives.

What path led you to blind football?

I’m originally from Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France. My father was a rugby fan and my older brother loved running, so I come from a family of sports lovers. When I was two, I lost my sight after developing retinal cancer. I went to a regular school except for first and second grade when I went to a specialized school to learn everything I needed to be independent, such as reading Braille.

When I was a child, inclusive sports were not yet in vogue and there were no specific facilities in clubs for young people with disabilities. So I played sports in clubs near my home, starting with athletics when I was eight. I did a bit of everything: sprinting, middle-distance running, throwing, jumping… I have fond memories of that time: my teammates took turns guiding me and the coach was very kind. It was the first time the club had welcomed a disabled person.

When did you start playing soccer?

Quite early. I used to play with friends with a ball that made a noise. When I was ten, a friend from primary school asked me to come and play at his club. I did all the warm-up exercises and then had a little training session on my own. But I couldn’t play with the others. The coach was sensitive to the cause of disability. I was able to continue playing for a few years, but I eventually stopped because it was frustrating not to be able to play in matches. So I took up cycling, on a tandem with a neighbor who took me to his club. I tried it and immediately got hooked. I did it for seven years.

Did you continue studying at the same time?

After graduating from high school in Clermont-Ferrand in 2015, I earned a bachelor’s degree in economics, then a master’s degree in development economics with a specialization in international cooperation. It was there, along with other visually impaired people, that we created a blind football section. Those were the beginnings of the club. In 2017, we transformed the club into an association with a group of students. We played our first competition in 201. We were really enthusiastic at the beginning, convinced that we’d get a good result but we finished 7th or 8th. It was a real blow! It showed us that we still had a long way to go…

Did that lead you to become better organized?

Yes, we partnered with Clermont University, creating the first blind football section at a university in France. Students would come and play for a semester, wearing blindfolds and training as if they were visually impaired. Our club then grew, and we were the only regional club. Players came from all over the Rhône-Alpes region. We even recruited foreign players: Italians, Turks, Germans…

Can you explain the specificities of blind football and the qualities required to play? In particular, a keen sense of memory…

A blind football match is a powerful blend of sensory stimuli. Imagine being surrounded by a constant hubbub: coaches, opponents, and teammates are shouting to give information; it’s coming from all sides at once, and in this chaos of sound, you have to sort out the right information. It takes a lot of concentration to analyze the information and then make the right decisions at the right time… You also have to be able to memorize the space and orient yourself based on the information you receive, and move in the right tempo.

You rely on your sense of mass to move around. Can you tell us a little more about that?

We do develop a greater sense of mass than other people in order to move around. For example, we can sense the presence of a post or a wall. Instead of feeling empty space, we feel a mass, a bit like bats, which are blind but receive echoes that help them locate obstacles. People who lose their sight later in life develop this ability less well. I lost my sight when I was very young, so I have no memory of sight, which means I’m very good at getting around. On top of that, to be a good player, you need to have good ball skills. 

How do you train?

Our training is similar to soccer training. There’s a cardio component with running, but also weight training. That’s because there’s a lot of contact in our games; it’s almost like rugby in that respect. Then there’s all the technical work and specific training for blind football, with exercises on orientation, analyzing information, and so on. At the end of a match, our tiredness is more often mental than physical. Finally, there’s also all the tactical work as a team, working out combinations, etc.

Do you have code names for your attacking combinations?

Yes. We establish them based on the positioning of our opponents or our team, and then we call out these combinations. So we work a lot on these tactical patterns. On the field, there are three guides to help us: one behind the opponent’s goal, the goalkeeper, and the coach.

Can you tell us more about what you like about your sport?

It’s a very complex discipline that calls for a whole array of different skills, both technical and cognitive. It’s very rewarding.

What is your strongest point?

I always try to improve and look for ways to improve. Otherwise, from a sporting point of view, the fact that I lost my sight at a young age means that I have a good sense of spatial awareness.

What is your fondest memory so far?

In 2021, I went to work for an NGO in Colombia where I was also able to play blind football. It’s a very popular sport in South America. It was a wonderful discovery. I had the opportunity to train with international players and met lots of people. It was a great experience that led me to dream up a travel project based on my sport.

Can you tell us more?

Following this stay in Colombia, in 2022, I designed and carried out a project with another player from our club. With the help of private sponsors, we set off on a ten-month trip to explore the world of blind football. We started in Europe and then went to South America. We slept at the players’ and coaches’ homes and played blind football. We visited about ten countries and gave talks. We went to Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica… all thanks to blind football! Immersing ourselves in these clubs was an incredible experience. We worked on the inclusive, human, and social aspects of the sport. It all made sense.

What goes through your mind when you’re in doubt?

Actually, when I’m panicking on the field, I try not to let my emotions get the better of me. You have to go back to basics… Where are you on the field? Get the ball in the right space… Just do the basic moves.

Paris 2024 Paralympic Games generated tremendous interest in this sport, marked by the French team’s victory at the end of a thrilling competition. What has this changed?

It hasn’t attracted more players. However, it has changed the attitude of people outside the discipline, the way it’s viewed by the general public. Today, 90% of people can picture what our sport is like. They saw the penalty shot taken by the French team!

And for you personally?

I had the good fortune to be in Paris for the Games and I was able to follow the matches. For us, the fact of being in a stadium for a blind football match with 12,000 people in the stands was extraordinary. Usually, for us, a total of twenty spectators is a huge crowd! The atmosphere was better than in some Ligue 1 football stadiums. The people in the stands were calling to the players by their first names… It was a continuation of my journey, it gave it meaning. It showed that there really is something to be done with our sport. And, finally, I experienced it as a spectator… but now I want to experience it as a player and compete in Los Angeles in 2028. It won’t be easy…

Where do things stand with your club in Clermont?

The season is over. We’re a young, second-division club that’s determined to be promoted into the first division. We were in the lead until April-May, but we faltered a bit. We plan to work with the AS Clermont Auvergne rugby club in the future. Personally, I also play in the European Cup with a Belgian club because, in blind football, we are allowed to play for another club abroad. My ultimate goal is to play in the Brazilian league, which is the biggest league in the world, the equivalent of the English Premier League in soccer. Each club is allowed to recruit one foreign player. No French player has ever played there, so I hope to be the first.

How often do you train?

I train six to seven times a week, split between three to four blind football training sessions and two or three physical training sessions.

What else do you do?

I’ve started my own company around the concept of building awareness about disability and inclusion by working with companies in the area of blind football. But I also support visually impaired people who have projects and who too often set themselves boundaries. There are nearly a million people in France who have problems with their sight. I have never really set boundaries on myself… People told me that math, especially with graphs, wasn’t for me, and that traveling was too complicated… Blind football has helped me a lot in this regard. I want to show other visually impaired people that this path is possible.

How did you ‘meet’ the Banque Populaire Corporate Foundation, and what does this support mean to you?

It was a bit by chance. When I had the idea of starting my own business and developing blind football, I presented my project without really believing in it. And yet it was selected by the Banque Populaire Corporate Foundation. It’s recognition and validation of the work we’ve already done. It shows that we’re on the right track. It also allows us to move forward and make a living from our passion.

Do you have a message for young people with visual impairments who are afraid to take the plunge?

Blind football has allowed me to flourish and believe that my dreams are achievable. If someone had told me when I was young and visually impaired that, one day, I would be a professional player and travel to play my sport, it would have thought it was just a day dream. It would be selfish to keep this message to myself.