Goalball was invented in 1946 by Austrian Hanz Lorenzen and German Sepp Reindle, as an activity to help in the physical and social rehabilitation of blind war veterans. The game was introduced to the world in 1976 at the Paralympics in Toronto as a demonstration sport and has been played officially since the Paralympic Games in Arnhem, Netherlands, in 1980. Since that time, the popularity of Goalball has increased to where it is played competitively in more than 112 countries around the world and is considered to be one of the most popular Paralympic sports.