Blind people will be able to experience the national team matches more intensively thanks to an app from the RFEF

On March25th, La Rosaleda stadium in Malaga will not only witness the first qualification match of the Spanish national team for the finals of Euro Germany 2024, in which the national team will face Norway. A team of visually impaired people will have the opportunity to follow the match through Escoita, a feature integrated into the RFEF app that consists of descriptive narration of the match without advertising and without commentary, all integrated with ambient sound.

This feature is available on the "RFEF Match Narration for the Blind" app and it has been made possible thanks to the Hat Trick UEFA Social Responsibility funds, which have provided the necessary funding to launch the ground-breaking adapted narration tool.

The RFEF has also signed an agreement with ONCE through Fernando Riaño, director of Sustainability/ ESG and Institutional Relations at the ONCE Social Group. It will disseminate this initiative among all members of the organisation, both nationally and internationally.

Something to enjoy in the countryside and at home

Jesús Suárez, an amateur footballer, developed Escoita in order to be able to continue enjoying matches on the pitch before losing his sight. Thanks to his idea, the user will be able to enjoy the match live and experience the atmosphere without missing a single detail of the action on the pitch. And, although the most complete experience is the one in the stadium thanks to the ambient sound, anyone who downloads the application will be able to activate the function from home.

After a first pilot experience during the Spain-Iceland match in Riazor on March 30th 2022, this technology has been adapted to the RFEF app, which will be used to narrate a minimum of seven matches of the senior men's national team.

Rubiales highlights "the power of football to break down barriers"

"From the Federation we want to continue to promote the power of football to break down barriers," explained Luis Rubiales, president of the RFEF. "For this reason, one of our main aims is to ensure that all fans can experience the emotion of the national team's matches in the best possible way", said Rubiales. He also defined the initiative as "pure and simple football fans". "The emotion that football transmits does not understand blindness; and we will listen to any proposal to make the world a better place, so people enjoy more about football," Rubiales added.

"We are very grateful to UEFA, of which I am vice-president, for the important social work carried out by its Hat Trick funds. I’m also grateful to the ONCE Social Group, which is honoured to be sponsoring this event for helping us to make this initiative possible", said Rubiales; Fernando Riaño wanted to express "gratitude and recognition to the Federation" from ONCE Social Group.

Jesús Suárez, for his part, recalled the origins of his project: "It was born out of an illness that I was diagnosed with at the age of 20. I was a sport and football lover, so little by little the lights went out and gave way to blindness. I couldn't receive through my eyes what I liked the most and I saw that this mechanism was missing for blind or low vision people. That is how Escoita was born".

Suárez thanked the RFEF and the ONCE Social Group for this opportunity and showed his confidence in the future: "Let's hope that football, which can change society, helps us to open our country's eyes and that the national team will be a reference in this sense at world level", he said.