The FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ is set to be the most inclusive tournament ever, both on and off the pitch, with FIFA bringing audio descriptive commentary to blind and low vision fans free of charge at certain stadium. Now everyone can enjoy what promises to be an exciting competition.

“Audio descriptive commentary is a specialised form of commentary for people who are blind or low vision. It details everything that takes place in the match from the first whistle to the very last. We’ve seen a huge growth in audio-descriptive commentary over the years,” said Brad Hope, FIFA instructor for audio description commentary.

The Audio Descriptive Commentary (ADC) programme is a specialised accessibility service that was introduced to football fans at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. It has since been rolled out successfully at several recent competitions, including the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and the FIFA Women's World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023™.

“Initially, it started as a project for in-stadium, and it was set up as an idea to initially try and bring people back to live football. I’ve known and met a lot of supporters who are blind and low vision, who felt they were a bit alienated from going to the game,” explained Hope.

“They like the atmosphere, they like being with their friends and family and part of their community, but they couldn’t follow the game, and they felt it was easier, potentially, to be at home and follow it via radio or TV coverage. So, the initial idea was to get people back to the stadium,” added Hope.

With this in mind, FIFA has been inviting and training professional commentators, audio describers and young broadcasters looking to break into the industry at various events. They are being prepared to take on the roles required at each of the venues for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, to be held in the United States with 32 teams.

The last of these workshops took place on 17 and 18 May in New York/New Jersey. Brian O'Hare was one of the applicants, and he shared why he volunteered for the role.

“This was an opportunity that, I think, can really kick-start my career. I’m just coming off the end of studying sports journalism. I’ve always been interested in getting into sports media, whether that be broadcast, written stuff, even radio or audio,” said the New Jersey native.

“Initially, I didn’t know too much about how audio-descriptive commentary differentiated from just generic commentary. I know there are people who depend on it a lot. Learning this has really opened up my eyes to see how different it is when you do have visual disabilities,” added the New York Red Bulls fan, although he will be supporting Bayern Munich during the competition.

He was joined by Matt Killen, who was born in Kansas City but has called New York home for the past 12 years. “I applied because I thought it was a really special way to bring my fandom for the game and help others who have a harder time, maybe, experiencing all the moments that come with it,” said the Sporting KC fan.

“Once upon a time, I was a journalist major, so there’s some of that. It melds some interesting parts of broadcasting. But, I like just being able to help other fans. I think it’s pretty cool to connect with fans like that,” Matt went on to say, who will be keeping a close eye on Pachuca's performance at the Club World Cup.

What’s your big takeaway? “Honestly, it’s eye-opening to understand that there are so many fans that are not able to experience the game like this, so being able to understand and think of others in that way - and also just in communicating in a different way, I think is really interesting.”

As Brad Hope puts it, audio descriptive commentary is a way of bringing FIFA's motto to life: Football Unites the World. “It sort of adds to that title; it unites all and it can bring anybody from anywhere into the beautiful game. Football is for everyone and it shouldn’t alienate anybody,” said the FIFA instructor.

“If we can play a small part in being able to bring blind and low vision supporters to the game, I think that’s an amazing tool.”