Waterlooville blind footballer Brandon Coleman came to terms with sight loss and is now preparing for fourth major tournament with England later this month

Aged just 17, having left Crookhorn College and starting a job in the marketing and sales industry, Coleman's world came crashing down over a gradual six-week period in 2012.

Born with the genetic condition Leber optic neuropathy - a form of vision loss - the Horndean-based now England international blind footballer was forced to contend with an unimaginable period of pain as his sight became dramatically restricted over a drastically quick period.

Initially, the 27-year-old tried to hide it from his friends and family before things soon got to a point within just three weeks where it became impossible to keep it to himself anymore.

What followed was an incredibly tough three years phase as Coleman found it so hard to contend with what the future would hold for him.

Then, unexpectedly, he discovered what he credits with ‘saving his life’ after gaining a place to study for personal training and massage therapy qualifications at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford.

Coleman explained: ‘I left school at 16 then I went to work for a marketing and sales company in Southampton.

‘I basically had to stop working there because of my sight loss and that’s when it all went a bit dodgy, to be fair.

‘It was really difficult, then the football pretty much saved my life, to be honest. God knows where I would have ended up (without blind football).

‘Until I found football - I ended up using football for a release - I gained a bit of confidence back and then I got told I had world-class potential. It makes you realise you’re capable of other things.

Coleman continued: ‘It was quite quick (sight loss). I knew it was happening for about three weeks but didn’t tell anyone then after about three weeks it was too obvious and people started to notice. I couldn’t read texts on my phone, I stopped seeing people, it got serious then for about two or three years.

‘My life sort of spiralled out of control then. I didn’t see anything going forward, felt useless to society as such, I didn’t really feel like I had any capability of doing anything.’

Coleman, who is able to perceive some light and can see shadows within a one-metre distance around him, is now a fully fledged England blind football international with 56 caps and 24 goals for his country.

Later this month, he will participate in his fourth major tournament with his national side as the Three Lions head for the IBSA Blind Football European Championships in Sardinia, Italy.

Drawn in a group along with Poland, Romania, Spain and Germany with games to be played from June 11-15, Coleman and his international team-mates will be doing all they can to reach the knock-out phase and the competition's semi-final stage.

Having not previously known about blind football before attending the RNCB College in Hereford, he's certainly enjoyed quite the rise in the sport.

And after briefly quitting the game for a four-month period following England's semi-final penalties defeat to Spain in the 2019 Euros, Coleman is hungrier than ever to make his personal mark at this summer's tournament and inspire his nation to glory.

He added: ‘Some people get recognised before and get brought to the college for sport but I hadn’t heard of blind sport at all - I didn’t know it was a thing.

‘When I got there the blind football coach (Adam Bendall) came up and asked me if I wanted to give it a go. He showed faith and a bit of belief in me.

‘Where I had that faith it made me think I needed to work hard, it made me want to get up early in the morning to prove a point.

‘When I went home people started to say I looked healthier. I started getting the respect slowly again and it was just a slow cycle from there, really.

‘After the 2019 Euros I quit and didn’t think I wanted to come back - I just sort of fell out of love with the game.

‘I felt like I’d put so much work in since I started blind football - didn’t get the outcome or result I wanted - I probably hadn’t worked hard enough in that period.

‘I left the squad in 2019 - didn’t think I’d ever go back - but I thought to myself I’d put so much work in I didn’t want to just throw it away.

‘I’ve got a point to prove to myself and other countries I can be the best in the world. I want to win something.‘Since 2020, I’ve worked so hard so when we get to the Euros this year we’re in the best place to win basically.’

As one of the current England blind football squad members with a year-long contract, Coleman attends training camps at St George's Park, works with a personal coach in Portsmouth while playing his club football for Brighton & Hove Albion visually impaired team.

Being involved with the England set-up in recent years, Coleman was even part of the nation's kit launch ahead of the World Cup in Russia in 2018.

And alongside one of his fellow Three Lions blind football team-mates, they handed Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Manchester United's Jadon Sancho the masks as they took part in a blind football session.

‘I did the England kit launch in 2018 with like Rashford (Marcus) and Henderson (Jordan), helping launch the kit for the World Cup then,’ revealed Coleman.

‘Me and one of the other blind lads and Sancho (Jadon) and Trent (Alexander-Arnold) did a blind football session at St Georges. They had a go at blind football which was good. We link up with other squads and try to do things - the facilities at St Georges Park are unbelievable.’

Coleman has put his massage therapy qualifications to good use, launching his own business - Coleman's Massage Therapies - which he is hoping to expand to opening a spa facility in the future.

Certainly, where he finds himself today is a whole world away from the position he found himself in as he came to terms with losing his sight a decade ago.

Coleman said: ‘It’s weird, I probably never thought I’d say this when I lost my sight, my life is probably the best it’s ever been now and I can’t see.

‘I never would have thought when I first lost my sight in 10 years time it was the best it’s ever going to be (how life is panning out).

‘I own my house, I’ve got a successful business and I’m playing football for England and potentially recognised as one of the best players in the world when it comes to the Euros.

‘Friends and family are so proud of how I’m doing now. They come to watch me play football, everyone is really happy for me, to be honest. I’ve got a good network around me.

‘The main thing for me, the sight loss part I’ve sort of forgot about now, three or four years that was the main focus of my life. I’d lost my sight and I had to overcome losing my sight.’

But for Coleman, who was England's top scorer with six goals at the 2018 World Cup in Madrid - which ended in a quarter-finals penalties defeat to Argentina - all focus is now on the upcoming IBSA Blind Football European Championships.

‘I just want to basically just prove how good we can be and make all the hard work pay off after leaving in 2019 as well,’ he said.

‘I fell out of love with the game but since I left in 2019 - I fell out of love with the game - since I’ve come back I’ve got a point to prove and make sure we win.

‘There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what barriers or challenges people face you can always overcome them.’