Sunil J. Mathew

Founder and Head Coach of the Indian Blind Football Federation (IBFF), based in Kochi. Built India's blind football teams from a 20-minute demo game into squads now ranked in the global top five — on a fraction of the funding of the nations they beat. Coaches without taking a salary, doing the ground-level training himself while others handle admin and commercialisation.

IBFF trains and fields India's blind football teams — four totally-blind outfield players, a sighted goalkeeper, and a ball with a bell inside, guided by three voices from keeper, coach and goal-guide. The teams have drawn Germany and beaten Austria at the Women's World Cup, and beaten Japan 1–0 in the snow, entirely self-funded against state- and federation-backed rivals like England, Germany and Argentina.

India has roughly 15 million visually impaired people — the world's largest blind population — with 75–80% of that blindness preventable. There is no government funding for blind football, and stigma keeps many families from disclosing a child's blindness at all. IBFF built a sport, a talent pipeline and a manufacturing base (footballs now made in Jalandhar instead of imported) from nothing.