Alan, Stephen and Jon will be joined by 15 children (who take part in weekly Pan-Disability Coaching sessions at The Cliff) and as well as helping with the draw, they will take part in a City v United Derby match.

After the draw, Alan and Stephen will be taking part in a Question and Answer session with the children.

The tournament itself will be played between 11-18 December at the National Cycling Centre at Sport City in Manchester (download a tournament poster by clicking here).

The Championship was launched in June 2004 by FA Director of Football Development, Sir Trevor Brooking and will be the largest ever disability football event to be staged in this country. The tournament is the fourth such event, having previously been staged in France, Brazil and Italy.

Organised by Manchester FA, one of the many aims of the event is to raise the profile of Partially Sighted & Disabled Football, creating a lasting legacy, enabling more adults and children with disabilities to get involved in the game.

Saturday 11 December sees the big kick-off with the opening ceremony followed by England playing at 8pm.

The tournament will feature 12 countries with England, Belarus, Brazil and Korea the first seeds, Italy, France, Spain and Russia second seeds and Ukraine, Turkey, Mauritius and India third seeds.

England’s final group game will take place on Tuesday 14 December at 7pm with the Semi Finals on Thursday 16th December (6pm & 8pm) and the Final on Saturday 18th December at 6.30pm.

Partially Sighted or Visually Impaired football is a 5 a side game played indoors on a special Futsal court.

The Rules, which are mainly FIFA approved, Futsal regulations are adapted slightly due to the player’s impairment.

The World Championships follow the successful staging of the European Blind Championships held at the same venue in July 2003, when England were runners-up, losing to Spain in the final, and it is Spain, as well as reigning World Champions Belarus who will be the teams to beat in December.

The England team are fully funded and supported by The FA. In January 2004, The FA launched a three-year development plan to increase participation of disabled people in the game, be it playing, coaching, refereeing or volunteering, pledging £1million to the development of Disability Football in England.

Tickets for the Partially Sighted World Championships are free but must be booked in advance via the website http://www.manchesterfa.co.uk/pswc/index.html or by calling 0161 881 0299.