Defending Paralympic champions Brazil will be the team to beat in Rio ©Getty Images

Eight countries have been confirmed for the Rio 2016 Paralympic men's football blind five-a-side tournament.

Hosts Brazil will be joined by Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, China, Iran and Morocco following an announcement by the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA).

All of the countries, who won through qualification tournaments, have confirmed their appearance in the Brazilian city in writing, and will take part in the event at the Olympic Tennis Centre in the Barra Olympic Park between September 9 and 17.

The Brazilians will be the team to beat on home soil, having won all three Paralympic tournaments contested so far.

Mexico, Russia and Morocco will make their Paralympic blind football debuts, with the opening round consisting of two groups of four.

Eight countries will play in the tournament in Rio
Eight countries will play in the tournament in Rio ©Getty Images

The IBSA have also published an updated rankings list, which takes into account events from 2015.

This includes regional Championships in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe, as well as the iBSA World Games in South Korea's capital Seoul.

Brazil top the pile, with Argentina second and Spain leading the Europeans in third.

China are ahead of France in fourth, with Turkey in sixth position.

The table is based on a new system to calculate the standings, that includes events stretching back over the past four years, and will be updated on a rolling basis.

“The IBSA Football Committee has been working for some months now on improving and updating our world ranking system,” Ulrich Pfisterer, Chair of the IBSA Football Committee, said.

“We had extensive discussions at our committee meeting in Hereford in August last year and then by email to agree on the new system.

"We believe the new system is a major step forward and improvement in term of grading teams in line with their performance in events over the past four years, and demonstrating the worldwide reach blind football currently enjoys.

"It’s encouraging to see there are more countries than ever in our table - we’re up from 35 to 40 nations in one year - and the number can only increase as new teams take part in ranking tournaments in the coming months and years.

"No ranking system is perfect so we will be monitoring the process this year with a view to fine-tuning the system at the end of 2016 if needed.

"I encourage countries to organise ranking tournaments in line with the new rules we have established.”