"IBSA Blind Football European Championships Division2 2021" kicks off in Romania on September 25.

"Last October, Santen agreed a 10-year partnership with the Japan Blind Football Association and the International Blind Football Foundation to realize an inclusive society in which people with and without visual impairment interact easily and play equal roles. It is an initiative to change personal values and is required a long-term efforts decade by decade.

In the partnership, our vision is to remove the emotional and societal barriers between those with and without visual impairment so as to make society a stage where everyone can play an equal and active role. In order to achieve our vision, we have been engaging in activities with the three goals of understanding each individual character and strength through collective experience, creating innovations related to vision and improving the QOL of people with visual impairment.

The best part of blind football is a pleasant contrast between silence and raptures as cheering and making sounds during play are prohibited. The goalkeeper is a sighted person and plays with the visually impaired field players. Football is a universal language, so people all over the world can enjoy the game without any explanation.

We see blind football is a symbol of an inclusive society. We are sponsoring the IBSA Blind Football European Championship Division2 2021, following the "IBSA Blind Soccer World Grand Prix 2021" held in Shinagawa, Tokyo in May this year, with the desire to spread this collective experience around the world.

Santen continues to develop various activities to provide people with and without visual impairment with collective experiences so that they can spontaneously interact with one another around the world."