Premiere: Online ADC for blind supporters

GNK Dinamo has launched Online Audio Descriptive Commentary for blind and partially sighted supporters for the first time in Croatia.

During the UEFA Europa League 6th round match Dinamo - CSKA Moskva everyone interested in this premiere ADC, primarily for people with visual impairments, had the opportunity to enjoy football conversations and interesting audio live stream from the Maksimir Stadium.

Dinamo celebrated 3:1 victory and ended the group stage of the Europa league without a defeat. Commentators were Igor Gabor and Branimir Šutalo.

The special feature of the transmission was audio descriptions - descriptive and narrative commentary. Commentator Igor Gabor described things like ambience, stadium atmosphere, player jerseys, bench positions, pitch and football actions, ways of achieving a goal, player celebration and everything he sees. Branimir Šutalo, as a blind person, questioned additional questions, commented on the events and presented some facts about Dinamo, Europa league and football itself.

In less than 24 hours, the transmission had over 8600 reviews, and in addition to the blind people who enjoyed football coverage, this project attracted numerous supporters, media and other people. In this way, through YouTube channel, the club enabled blind fans to enjoy the broadcast of the football game at home.

- Dear listeners, I hope this will be a practice in the future when blind and partially sighted supporters are unable to attend the stadium. Some fans may not be from Zagreb, it would be nice if they could all listen to ADC this way. This can be inspiring for other clubs in Croatia to accept Dinamo's practice - said Branimir at the end of the ADC.

Igor also gave his opinion on the project: - I don't mind to continue this project on an online basis, together with blind fans at the stadium as they were here at previous matches. There is one match that will be played in February (UEFA Europa League Round of 32), I hope we will organize to the same activity as this one.

This year has brought a temporary interruption to the project at the stadium. ADC for blind supporters has so far been implemented almost 25 times since 2017, and in this classic project fans come to the game and listen to the transmission via wireless receivers, along with other fans at the Maksimir Stadium.