Merseyside VIFC are looking to make it back-to-back Disability Cup wins as they face RNC at the home of English football on Sunday.
With the 2020 finals cancelled due to the pandemic, there is a unique opportunity for the blind football team to inscribe themselves in history.
Two years on from their 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, the final on Sunday will be televised and streamed across the country thanks to BT Sport which is showcasing the skills on show across the two days.
Merseyside V.I.F.C (Visually Impaired Football Club) are in their 11th year after their foundation in 2010. They're a hybrid of visually impaired and blind footballers who attract players not just from the region but from surrounding areas and communities like Greater Manchester as they are the only North West hub.
They aim to provide provision for those who are blind or visually impaired to access competitive football.
Blind football is a 5-a-side game played with a modified futsal ball and a goalkeeper can be sighted or visually impaired, but must stay in their penalty area throughout the game.
Players wear blindfolds and use their sense of hearing as they listen to the sound devices within the ball.
Sunday's game has an element of revenge from the Merseyside club after they were beaten in last year's Brian Aarons Cup final to this weekends opponents
Azeem Amir starred in their previous triumph in the cup and scored the winning goal in their victory, contracted to England, the 22-year-old went through education without a real pathway to competitive sport until he found blind football when he was 15 after struggling throughout his time in school to join in.
The Salford University student, who was visually impaired from birth, told the ECHO: "I always struggled to access sport because I was the only one in the class who couldn't see that ultimately restricted how much I could join in, how much competitive sport I could play.
"The support I was given was fantastic, they tried their best but you knew it was kind of being forced because you'd never be able to be playing on a level playing field.
"It was completely a new sport for me and I, like many others, thought it would be a car crash going into it and you would be fishing around for the ball.
"But what I was realised was that it is an elite sport, very tactical, technical and its played across the levels from grassroots and even below that at a recreational level to Olympic standard level."
Azeem's desire to play sport is as heartwarming as it is inspiring. Despite living in Rochdale, he was given the opportunity to play for Merseyside VIFC when he was 17 and has gone on to play for the England Development Squad before moving up to the senior blind team.
"I was very lucky to score the winner in 2019 before the 2020 cup final was cancelled due to the Pandemic," he added. "I'm always happy to step out onto the pitch because no matter if it's a training pitch, a league or an international pitch, that love of football is what drives you, no one is forcing you to play football you're doing it out of sheer love and passion and enthusiasm.
"It's always a buzz and I hope that fire that lights up the minute you step out onto the pitch, the minute the first whistle is blown stays with me for a long time because there's no other feeling like it.
"It was a fantastic buzz, especially because it was against England's number one and first choice for the men's blind football team and to score against him in a competitive game was quite a buzz.
"He prides himself on clean sheets and to tuck one away past him, I always give him a bit of grief but there's that friendly banter."
He adds: "The emotions and feeling you get from football and winning - which is the most important thing - and scoring goals there is no high that can replicate that, I believe.
"I can't wait for this year's final, my personal training and the last year has been good for me in my personal development, I've been able to train and really work hard. The hard work is done, the easy thing is to turn up, play and enjoy the game and hopefully come out with a win."
The final on Sunday is part of a festival of disability football showing on BT Sport. Merseyside VIFC's big match gets underway at 12.30pm after a full fixture list on Saturday.
And Azeem believes it is a monumental occasion for the sport.
"It's absolutely massive, I've described it as a monumental day for disability football because the exposure it will get is absolutely massive," he said.
"For a broadcaster to give the limelight to a sector of sport which is tucked away and one not many people know about, we're going to give it a global platform and also free, they're not only broadcasting it on the BT Channels but on streaming it on their Facebook too.
"It's absolutely huge, not just for Blind Football but for a wide array of disability football including Powerchair, Amputee and Partially Sighted to get air time and geet exposure which the sports really do deserve.
"Our lads train day in, day out and people don't know that it exists and this is what people do for a living, I'm contracted by the FA to play Blind football and I'd go as far as saying 95 per cent of the country don't know it exists.
"My hope is people are flicking through and all of a sudden they see people wearing blindfolds and they go 'hang on what's going on here? They're actually quite good' and hopefully, they may know someone with disabilities to give them a bit more of a push to go on.
"The awareness of individuals too, some of their stories, the players are really, really talented and they have an opportunity on Sunday to showcase their skills and they're not just a blind person with a disability, they can be so much more than that and they are elite athletes.
"And it can be anyone, not just the men's team last week in the EURO final to people with disabilities playing in a cup final, football is for all."
Merseyside VIFC play RNC Hereford on Sunday, July 18 at 12:30 live on BT Sport and available to live stream on Facebook.
