Brazil will begin the defence of their Paralympic title with matches against Morocco, Turkey and Iran ©Facebook/IBSA

Hosts Brazil will begin the defence of their blind football five-a-side Paralympic title with group matches against continental champions Morocco, Turkey and Iran after the draw took place at Rio 2016’s headquarters.

The Brazilian team will head into the competition as the favourites to claim the gold on home soil, having won all three Paralympic tournaments contested so far.

They secured the title at London 2012 by claiming a comfortable 2-0 victory over France and are seen as a big threat again, particularly with the backing of a home crowd.

Additionally, they will also head into the tournament as the current world champions, having beaten Argentina 1-0 in the 2014 World Championship final.

Conducted by Rio 2016 staff and International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Football Committee chairman Ulrich Pfisterer, the draw placed the hosts into Group A.

European champions Turkey are seen as their biggest rivals in the group, which also contains the African and Asian continental champions Morocco and Iran.

Argentina will begin as the favourites in Group B, with the South Americans having been drawn alongside Mexico, Russia and China, who will all make their Paralympic blind football debuts.

Brazil will seek to claim a fourth successive Paralympic title
Brazil will seek to claim a fourth successive Paralympic title ©Getty Images

The top two sides from each group will progress to the semi-finals, while the nations who finish in the bottom two spots will compete in the fifth to eighth place classification round.

“Anything can happen, and that is the beauty of football,” said Pfisterer after the draw.

“What we want is a lot of goals.”

Brazil are the number one ranked side in the world in five-a-side blind football, with Argentina and Spain occupying second and third place in the latest IBSA ranking table, which was released in February.