One of six teams making blind football a woman's game

Chilangas FC, one of only six women's blind football teams in Mexico, trains several times a week on a public court in Mexico City that it shares with whoever else turns up. Founded in 2022 by coach Wendy del Río, the club was built to make room for visually impaired women in a game long dominated by men. Around 45 women play at an organised level nationwide. Pau, 31, makes a two-hour journey across the city to train, often with her six-year-old son Noel holding her hand. "Football has changed how I see myself as a blind woman," she says. Noel tells his teachers and family that his mum plays football, and says he wants to play too. The team is now raising roughly 40,000 pounds to compete in the Copa América in São Paulo this September. Pau's own dream is smaller. She wants Noel to watch an official match, then hug her after and say, "Congratulations, Mom."