Paulina Hernandez tucks her white cane into a backpack and slips on a black eye mask, shutting out every trace of light. Around her, teammates from Chilangas FC do the same before a five against five practice in Mexico City. Some have partial sight, others none, but once the whistle blows, nobody can see. Next month, Hernandez and her club will become the first blind women’s football team from Mexico to compete internationally at the Copa America in Brazil.
Hernandez, who is 31 and a mother from Mexico City, jogs onto the pitch as the whistle sounds. Every scrimmage between now and September is critical for the Chilangas FC, a club on the edge of making history. Mexico has never sent a team of blind female footballers to an international competition. That will change next month when the squad travels to Brazil for the first ever Women’s Blind Football American Championship, also known as the Copa America.
Mexico’s deep football culture is well documented. Polling firm Mitofsky estimates six out of 10 Mexicans consider themselves fans, while Ticketmaster found that among Mexicans who follow sports, 81 percent prefer football above all others. Coach Wendy del Rio experienced that enthusiasm during seven years with Mexico City’s blind men’s football team, first as an assistant and later as a key programme member. But she kept noticing a missing group. Women regularly approached her after training with the same question: where could they play?
“They kept asking if there was a team they could join, but there wasn’t one,” del Rio said. “We realised there were women who wanted to play, but there was no space for them.”
Blind football has roots stretching to 1920s Spain, according to the International Blind Sports Federation, but it was slow to gain international footing. It began in schools for visually impaired children. Football was only folded into the federation in 1996. Men’s teams have competed since then, yet the women’s game remains in its infancy. Women’s blind football is not yet part of the Paralympic Games, which limits funding and development globally; the men’s version debuted at the Paralympics in 2004.
In 2020 del Rio took action and founded Chilangas FC, one of Mexico’s first dedicated women’s blind football clubs. The COVID-19 pandemic postponed her plans, but by 2023 she had gathered a handful of players for the inaugural team. Today Mexico has only six blind football teams for women, including Chilangas FC, and organising matches and practices remains difficult. The club has no dedicated pitch, no institutional funding and no paid staff, del Rio explained.
“Even so, they were excited to have a space just for women,” del Rio said of her team. “Somewhere they could feel safe, meet other women with disabilities and simply play football.”
Del Rio has spent months negotiating with Mexico City’s Women’s Secretariat, a government office founded in 2019, for a suitable court. Blind football needs an enclosed space so balls cannot escape, and walls help players by creating sound when the ball ricochets. Because noise is essential, spectators must remain silent during matches. Only the goalkeeper on each team is allowed to have sight so they can guide teammates. The outfield players shout instructions to signal when they are open for a pass or moving forward on attack. Every movement depends on trust, communication and memory rather than sight.
As del Rio blows the whistle for another drill, Hernandez sprints toward the rattling ball. “When I’m on the pitch, it’s as if I can see,” Hernandez explained. “I know where my teammates are. I know where the ball is. I’m not afraid.”
Hernandez, described as a short, outgoing woman with hair cropped close to her head, was diagnosed as a child with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare irreversible disorder that causes the retina to break down. She gradually lost her sight and became totally blind four years ago. A lifelong sports lover, she stayed active by playing goalball, a team sport designed for people with visual impairments. But goalball is played indoors on volleyball courts and only allows the use of hands. It was nothing like the football she had grown up with.
As a child, Hernandez loved playing football in the schoolyard even though her limited vision made her an unlikely player. She jokes that she was terrible, losing sight of the ball whenever it went airborne. But the sport remained a lifelong passion.
Efrain Mora Garcia, president of the Mexican Federation of Sports for the Blind and Visually Impaired, encouraged Hernandez to try out for Chilangas FC and introduced her to del Rio. Hernandez was quickly hooked and felt a new sense of purpose. “I said to myself, ‘This isn’t a game any more. I want to dedicate myself to this,'” Hernandez said. “I’ve pushed myself harder as an athlete, and the changes have all been for the better. I feel much more grown-up. I feel more fulfilled. I feel happier.”
Mora Garcia warns that accessibility remains a hurdle for women like Hernandez. Sports programmes for athletes with visual impairment are limited, and cultural expectations can be just as restrictive. Families often discourage daughters from taking part in contact sports out of fear they might get hurt. Women also face a disproportionate burden of housework and domestic care. The Mexican government estimates women devote an average of 39.7 hours per week to such chores, more than double the time spent by men. Those attitudes, Mora Garcia said, help explain why women’s blind football has developed more slowly than the men’s game. “Sometimes the biggest barriers aren’t physical,” he said. “They’re created by society and even by families. What these women need is the opportunity to show what they’re capable of.”
One of Hernandez’s biggest difficulties is simply reaching training sessions. She relies on her white cane to navigate Mexico City, where broken pavements, crowded buses and unpredictable pedestrians make routine journeys difficult. Strangers sometimes grab her arm without asking, thinking they are helping, but she said it can feel invasive. Hernandez insists the greatest obstacles she faces do not come from blindness itself but from assumptions about what blind women can and cannot do. She has built an independent life as a massage therapist while raising her son Noel, who is six years old.
“There are many things we can do as people with visual impairments,” she said. “I cook, I look after my husband, and I’ve taken care of my son since the day he was born.”
Hernandez acknowledged that travelling across Mexico City to reach practice can be difficult, but she refuses to let fear dictate her life. “Of course, there are dangers,” she explained. “But we can’t put ourselves in a little bubble and stay at home. If we don’t push ourselves to go out and discover what we’re capable of, we’ll never do anything with our lives.”
At practice, Alexandra Ramirez waits at the halfway line. At 20 years old, she is one of the youngest players on the squad. She studies at a residential school for people with visual impairments near the park and travels home to the outskirts of Mexico City whenever she can. Growing up, she never imagined blind football could become a serious path for her life, but she has found belonging through Chilangas FC. “Right now, football is a huge dream for me,” Ramirez said. “I want to keep growing as a player. I’m giving everything to training, to strategy, to being a good teammate. Being here feels like having a family. You feel a beautiful responsibility to stay and keep going.”
Both she and Hernandez are eager to represent Mexico at the September tournament in Brazil. When Hernandez thinks about the experience, her answer focuses less on football and more on recognition and family. “One of my biggest dreams is for my son to see me play in the Copa America,” Hernandez said. “I want to come off the field and have him hug me and say, ‘Congratulations, Mum.'”
As dusk settles over the park, Hernandez unfolds her white cane and begins the journey home with Noel by her side. Tomorrow she will once again board crowded buses and navigate the metropolis with her cane. But a few days later, she will return to the pitch, a place where she feels she can finally see.
