'The magic of football is for everyone to enjoy’

Local man Faisal al-Kohaji is one of the excited supporters who attended the first major match to be held at Al Bayt. Al Kohaji is blind and usually needs someone next to him to describe the action on the field. However, during this match, audio descriptive commentary was delivered via an app on his phone.

* Audio descriptive commentary in Arabic is made available to fans for the first time during a FIFA event

On the opening day of the FIFA Arab Cup, thousands of spectators packed into Al Bayt Stadium to watch a stellar opening ceremony ahead of the match between hosts Qatar and Bahrain. Fans were treated to an unforgettable evening that included live performances, fireworks and 3D holograms of some of the Arab world’s most influential artists, before taking in an action-packed 90 minutes of football.

Local man Faisal al-Kohaji was one of the excited supporters who attended the first major match to be held at Al Bayt. Al Kohaji is blind and usually needs someone next to him to describe the action on the field. However, during this match, audio descriptive commentary was delivered via an app on his phone. Using his own headphones, Al Kohaji was able to listen to an Arabic-speaking commentator describe the opening ceremony and match in great detail, including important information about the stadium’s ambience and even the players’ facial reactions.

“When going to stadiums in the past, I have had to rely on the description of a sighted friend or make do by listening to a time-delayed video of the match on my phone. This technology, however, allows me to enjoy the action on the pitch in the same way that everyone else does,” said Al Kohaji, a long-time supporter of the Qatar national team.