Alice Hopkins, a University of Worcester student, will compete for England at the IBSA Women’s Blind Football European Championship in Istanbul, Turkey, from October 3 to 7.
The 25-year-old said: “It’s great to be selected.
“There are not many people who can say that they’ve got to play for England, to wear the England shirt.”
Hopkins, who has a degree in history and creative writing and a master’s in research in media and culture, is currently studying for a PhD in English.
She previously represented England at the first women’s blind football European Championship in Italy in 2022 and at the inaugural IBSA Women’s Blind Football World Championship in India last year, where the team finished second.
The England team is ranked second in the world.
She said: “We’d been established as a squad for about four months before that first Euros competition.
“Looking at how we have progressed even just from last year I know at least on a personal level I have worked on my own individual development as have others, so that will have an impact on us as a squad.”
Hopkins discovered blind football in 2021 during a transition year at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford.
After a taster session, she was invited to train with The FA and was selected for England’s first national women’s blind football team in 2022.
The five-a-side game is played with a ball containing metal ball bearings, with verbal assistance provided by a sighted goalkeeper and people on the sidelines.
She said: “You are listening to the ball, to people on the sidelines depending where you are on the pitch, to your teammates, the opposing team, so there’s a lot of information.
“It’s more mentally than physically taxing.”
Though women’s blind football is not at the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics, Hopkins hopes it might be included in 2032.
She said: “We might be a Paralympic sport down the line while I’m still playing or maybe not, but I have paved the way for the people to come, kids who see it and think that looks fun, I’m going to try that.
“Even if it’s one or two people, I’ve had an impact. I have helped pioneer this sport in the UK for women.”
Hopkins, from Newark, trains up to 10 hours a week alongside her studies and is supported by the University of Worcester’s sports scholarship programme.