The initiative will allow blind and partially sighted fans to experience every moment of England and Wales’ matches in real-time detail, marking a push toward inclusivity in live football coverage.
In a bid to open up new inclusive opportunities to watch UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 this month, ITV have partnered with Guinness to provide new live audio description commentary for blind and partially sighted people.
ITV’s descriptive commentary of Women’s EURO 2025 games will aim to give a detailed breakdown of the action happening on the pitches in Switzerland and go beyond the traditional norms of broadcast commentary.
The service will be available during all of England and Wales’ matches throughout the competition, which starts with England’s first group stage game against France on July 5.
The description commentary will be provided by experienced audio descriptive sports commentators Dave Rogers and Joe Byrnes. Rogers has commentated on a range of sports, including cricket, rugby, volleyball and boxing.
The audio description option will be available for Women’s EURO 2025 matches on ITV1, ITVX and STV. ITV will broadcast one of the quarter-finals and have the first option of one of the semi-final games. The final of the competition, on July 27, will be on ITV1 and ITVX. ITV shares broadcast rights for Women’s EURO 2025 with BBC.
“We are incredibly proud to extend our partnership with ITV to bring live audio descriptive commentary to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025,” said Nick Payman, Head of Guinness.
“This initiative builds on Guinness’s commitment to making sport as inclusive and accessible as possible, ensuring that even more fans can experience this summer’s tournament.”
Guinness and ITV first partnered to provide audio descriptive commentary for blind and partially sighted audiences during the Six Nations Championship.
For the second consecutive year during the ITV broadcast of the rugby competition, Guinness assisted the UK national broadcaster with the technology to provide the service which was introduced for the first time during the 2024 Six Nations.
“We had an overwhelmingly positive response to ITV’s live descriptive commentary during the last two Six Nations Championships and I’m thrilled our partnership with Guinness means that we can extend it to the biggest sporting event of this summer,” added Mark Trinder, ITV Director of Commercial Sales and Partnerships.
“Live descriptive commentary means that families and friends with varying accessibility needs can finally enjoy live coverage together, making sports more inclusive for everyone.”
An inclusive approach to sports
FIFA took a similar approach over a decade ago, by providing audio descriptive commentary for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Global broadcasters integrated the service for the first time during the World Cup over 10 years ago, and the global footballing organisation continued to implement the service ever since. Audio description commentary is available on DAZN for the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup.
“Audio descriptive commentary is a specialised form of commentary for people who are blind or have 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.
In the UK, Ofcom regulates audio description. Public service broadcasters (like ITV, BBC, Channel 4) are required to provide audio description for at least 10% of their programming. These requirements are part of broader accessibility rules that also cover subtitling and signing.
AD obligations apply across genres, but live sports have historically lagged, due to technical and logistical challenges.
