This year, the Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium has hosted the second edition of the Most Inclusive Match, in the match between Atlético de Madrid and Lille in the third round of the Champions League Phase, played on Wednesday, October 23 at 21:00. The aim of this initiative is to give visibility and highlight the importance of making stadiums more accessible to everyone and in every way.
This new edition of the Most Inclusive Match was announced a few weeks ago by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, during the World Football Summit Europe in Seville, where Saiz defended “the enormous transformative power of sport for our society”.
Last year, the Inclusive Match organized in collaboration with Integrated Dreams was an official LALIGA match between Real Betis Balompié and Real Valladolid. It was attended by 1740 people with disabilities, setting the record number of disabled fans watching a football match live at the stadium. But, most importantly, it included various aspects surrounding the experience, such as audio description services for visually impaired fans, ColorAdd code on the numbers for colorblind spectators, players wearing jerseys with Braille numbers on them or the club’s anthem interpreted in sign language.
Before the match, we had a fan zone with various activities to raise awareness of adapted sports. These included a space with three players from the Spanish blind soccer team on a field where they invited fans to try blind football. There was also another space with 6 adapted wheelchairs to learn more about Foothand, a new variety of football practiced on wheelchairs. In addition, we had a stand of ColorADD, where they had various objects to raise awareness about color blindness, the “Truly Mixed Area” of Diario As, where they conducted interviews with people with disabilities and a wall to collect signatures for a 100% inclusive football.
During the match, various activations were implemented to facilitate access to different groups of people with disabilities, such as sign language interpretation of the anthem and the lineup of each team, an audio description system for blind people and people with low vision through Mycrocast and a sensory area adapted for individuals sensitive to light and noise. In addition, as part of this initiative, three children with Down syndrome have entered the match accompanying the referees and glasses simulating color blindness have been distributed to make visible and raise awareness of other types of disabilities, such as color blindness.
From Integrated Dreams, we would like once again to thank our colleagues at the World Football Summit, AccessibAll, Diario As and, of course, Atlético de Madrid, for wanting to be part of this initiative and working with us to make it a reality.
Thank you for being part of the change towards a more inclusive and accessible football and society!