Last Updated on 19/09/2025 by Crip Life
Mo Ahmed is a 26-year-old blind footballer, elite goalball athlete and psychology student who is set to represent West Bromwich Albion blind FC in the upcoming blind final of the Disability FA Cup.
The EE Disability FA Cup Finals return to St. George’s Park on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th June 2025. The weekend sees some of the best impairment-specific footballers in the country compete in six finals over two days, including amputee, partially sighted, blind, cerebral palsy, powerchair and deaf.
As part of the build-up to this decisive disability sporting event, our editor Emma Purcell had the pleasure of speaking to Mo Ahmed about his career in blind football, how the preparations are going for West Brom in the FA Cup final and the importance of raising awareness about disability football.
Scroll down for the blind Disability FA Cup final result, match report and highlights.
Mo Ahmed on discovery blind football
Mo began by sharing how his visually impaired school introduced him to blind football and led the way to his career with West Brom:
“I first heard about blind football during secondary school. So I was around the age of 12 or 13 when I really started to get involved in it. I went to a school for the visually impaired, and
one of our clubs was a sports club, and we tried out different sports. One of those sports was blind football.
“We’d go over to West Brom and have a training session there, and I fell in love with it. I then went away from the sports club and started to go to the regular West Brom blind football training sessions.
“I’ve been involved in it for about 13 years now. I’m 26 now… playing in the domestic league since the age of 16, and have played for West Brom throughout that time.”
With blind football, although every player is diagnosed as severely sight-impaired, every player still has different levels of remaining sight. Therefore, to make the game fair, all outfield players wear blindfolds to make it an even playing field. The players also use a bell-filled ball so they can hear the ball rattling across the pitch.
Mo explained a bit more about how blind football differs from mainstream football:
“It’s five-a-side. The goalkeepers are fully sighted because goalkeepers act as a coach for the defensive third. You think about it in three different thirds. You’ve got your defensive three, which is controlled by the goalkeeper, and he gives verbal information to the defenders. On the halfway line on the sides, you’ve got your coach who gives control to the midfield third. And then you’ve got your attacking guide, which stands behind the opposition goal and gives auditory information in terms of what players have in front of them, feeding information of where the gaps are, which the players react to that, and then they listen to the guy to be able to shoot and hopefully score a goal.”
West Bromwich Albion Blind FC is on course for the 2025 domestic treble
For many years, West Bromwich Albion Blind FC has enjoyed consistent domestic success, winning multiple National Blind Football League titles and the 2024 FA Disability Cup. Their sustained performance has established them as one of England’s most successful blind football teams.
Speaking about West Brom’s latest success and the build-up to the 2025 FA Cup final, which will be against league rivals The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC), Mo said:
“It’s been a really amazing season. We won the domestic blind football league. We finished on 31 points, and second place was RNC on 13. So, quite an emphatic league win.
“But it wouldn’t have happened without all the hard work that has gone into this season. Last season, we lost the league by five points to RNC. It went to the last day of fixtures, and we lost that by four points. We lost the Brian Aarons Cup last season as well to RNC in a penalty shootout.
“We came back this season, putting in all the hard work over the summer… working as a team to make sure the story was different this season. We’ve won the league, we’ve won the Brian Aarons Cup as well, and obviously, going into the Disability FA Cup final hoping to bring back home the treble, that’s the aim. It’s gone well so far, so hopefully, we can complete the set.”
Other established West Brom players on the team sheet for the FA Cup final include their 2024 FA Cup hat-trick star Paul Iyobo, National Blind Football League top scorer Eesa Amjid and England player and popular content creator Toby Addison.
West Brom Blind FC are lucky to have the backing of West Brom football club and have had strong connections with ex players such as Andy Johnson supporting the team, and hope to have some people attend the final from the club.
Mo also wanted to praise his former Head Coach, Paul Glover, who stepped down from the role in April 2025 and began his new role as director and founder of the organisation PG Active Ability:
“I want to give a little mention to Paul Glover, who was our Head Coach for so many years… But this year, he did leave his position at West Brom. So it meant we did lose our Head Coach.
“I wanted to mention how much Paul Glover has given throughout his time at West Brom. He’s been there since I was 12. He’s been a big part of my journey, and the journey of West Brom blind football to where it is today, so I just wanted to give him a mention and thank him for all his work.”
From an international perspective, Mo got his first England cap at the age of 15 and went on to represent England at the 2018 World Cup in Madrid. However, due to his studies in psychology and counselling, he decided to take a step back from international duties to focus on his studies and his ongoing domestic career with West Brom.
The benefits of media coverage in disability football
The 2025 Disability FA Cup will be broadcast on TNT Sports (previously BT Sport) for a fifth consecutive year. Mo admits having this TV coverage is a great honour, but at the same time, it would be great if it could expand across other areas of disability football:
“It’s amazing to have TNT Sports broadcast it. It’s a great showcasing event for the sport itself. It’s an amazing environment in terms of being at St. George’s Park. It’s like the pinnacle, the highlight of this season, and it’s great having so many people being able to watch the different disability sports, something that they’ve probably never seen before, and just to learn about the different sports, how it works, and to see that people with disabilities can to partake in things that non-disabled people can do.
“Unfortunately, it perhaps doesn’t get as much coverage away from the Disability FA Cup. I would love to be in a place where league fixtures are streamed and there’s more awareness of the sport and more fans coming to league fixtures. We hope that the coverage from TNT Sports can raise that awareness. That then filters down into people coming along to league fixtures and stuff like that.”
Mo Ahmed on his reciprocal success in goalball
Away from football, Mo also plays elite goalball, a team sport for visually impaired athletes, using a bell-filled ball. Players wear eyeshades and defend goals by listening and diving to block shots on a tactile court.
Explaining more about his experience of goalball, Mo said: “I play at elite level, which is the highest domestic level in the UK for goalball. I play for Birmingham, which is a bit of a rivalry as a West Brom footballer. But there’s only a Birmingham team, so that is my hometown.
“I’ve played goalball for pretty much the same time as football. They’re two different sports, but they are both a big part of my sporting journey. There is that duality between goalball and football, and there are so many different transferable skills between the two. I’ve been on the GB program for goalball and have been a part of England for blind football.
“Before that, I was in a mainstream primary school, and honestly, I didn’t take part in any sports because it just wasn’t inclusive or accessible. I didn’t even know half these sports existed. So, for me, going into secondary school and experiencing all these different sports became a massive part of my life and still is today. It’s been great to just be able to experience different sports.”
From the daily challenges of living with sight loss to inspiring the next generation of blind footballers
When asked if he has faced many challenges living with a visual impairment, Mo said:
“Unfortunately, yes, I do face many different challenges, whether that be stigma or discrimination. I guess not many people have an understanding or awareness of different disabilities, and how to be able to help us. Unfortunately, I think societally, this might sound a little bit morbid, but I don’t think the world is set up for people with disabilities.
“Obviously, if you’re not around it, or you haven’t seen anyone like that before, I can imagine how easy it can be to not have that awareness. But that then poses loads of difficulties, whether that be educationally in terms of having to advocate for yourself, and the need to be able to have an equal playing field as other students.
There are also the challenges of accessing public areas. I have a guide dog as well, and that in itself poses difficulties when accessing things like restaurants or taxis.
“There are many challenges, but at the end of the day, I think everyone has challenges, and unfortunately, we’ve had to find ways of adapting.”
He added: “I feel stuff like the Disability FA Cup being on TNT Sports will hopefully, as I said before, raise that awareness and people will have a better understanding that people with disabilities can do the same things as people without disabilities.”
Mo concluded by advising others with visual impairment or other disabilities how to access blind football and other inclusive sports:
“I think the most important thing is to try it. There are so many different opportunities to be able to try different sports through have-a-go days and stuff like that. Ultimately, you won’t know unless you try.
“Not only are you getting the physical element of staying active, but also you get to meet different people, so socially, it can be a huge benefit. You get to share experiences with people who may have a similar disability. The most important thing is that you can play it socially, casually or if you want to push yourself, you can go up to the highest standard of international and represent your country. You can make it as much as you want it to be. But I think try it, and you won’t know until you do.”
West Bromwich Albion Blind FC and The Royal National College for the Blind will face off in the blind Disability FA Cup final on Saturday 28th June 2025 at 3:10pm, live from St. George’s Park and broadcast on TNT Sports.
TNT Sports 1 will feature live subtitles and Sign Language interpretation, while a simulcast on TNT Sports 5 will provide alternative audio-described match commentary.
For free-to-air, highlights will be available on the TNT Sports YouTube channel post-game.
West Brom vs RNC Match Report
West Bromwich Albion Blind clinched victory in the Blind final with a 2-0 win against the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC).
Both sides showed strong defensive organisation in a goalless first half. RNC threatened early on with a well-worked free kick in the seventh minute, but the WBA keeper Owen Locke was alert, getting down well to push it away at the far post. A solo effort from RNC’s Roy Turnham looked destined for the net until another fine stop from the WBA keeper denied him. At the other end, WBA’s Efe Shimwell narrowly missed a one-on-one chance, poking just wide.
The second half brought more drama. WBA were awarded a penalty in the 16th minute after a foul on Shimwell, but his low strike was brilliantly saved by RNC keeper Dylan Malpas.
WBA broke the deadlock in the 21st minute when Eesa Amjid produced a dazzling solo run, capping it with a clinical finish off the post. Just three minutes later, Amjid struck again, showing more neat footwork before firing low into the bottom right corner to double the lead.
RNC pushed forward in the closing stages, with Ollie Johnson testing the keeper, but WBA stood firm to seal a deserved 2–0 win and their goal scorer, Elsa Amjid, got Player of the Match.
To find out more about blind football, you can visit the National Blind Football League Facebook page and follow on Instagram.