The wave of anticipation that envelopes the stadium as an attacking team approaches goal is a familiar one for football fans. There’s no sound or sensation quite like it. But some in attendance are unable to experience that excitement completely. At the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™, world football’s governing body has partnered with two innovative companies to help blind and low-vision fans enjoy those exhilarating moments in a far more interactive way. Fans can now follow a match as it unfolds on laptop devices constructed by firms such as Ireland’s Field of Vision and US's OneCourt. These combine the real-time data already produced by teams and leagues with ingenious engineering and the haptic technology utilised on a more basic level in mobile phones. With the help of these devices, fans can literally feel the buzz.

The devices, which feature the lines and layout of a football pitch, are being made available to FIFA Club World Cup™ fans at matches in Atlanta, Philadelphia and Seattle free of charge. The summer’s competition is a fitting occasion to showcase the technology and is the first time it has been available at a FIFA event. The tournament’s inaugural edition is the most inclusive competition in FIFA’s history, featuring players from 81 nations on 32 elite teams from all six continental confederations. That inclusivity extends to the stands.

“I’ve fallen asleep at sporting events because I’ve been so bored, having no idea what’s going on if I’m not asking someone 1,000 times. And now I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for what’s next,” said Anthony Ferraro, a fan using one such device during the Seattle Sounders FC-Botafogo match at Lumen Field. Ferraro’s ability to follow along with those collective moments of anticipation and celebration were like “night and day,” thanks to the device.

“It’s high alert. What’s about to happen?” he continued. “Instead of sitting here half asleep and there’s a huge pop in the stadium and you’re like ‘Something just happened’, this [is] like you’re watching the build[-up], watching the build[-up], and then you see the missed shot or the made shot and you’re like, ‘That’s why everybody’s freaking out!’ You get to be involved in that excitement.” Across the country in Philadelphia, Field of Vision invited students from the Overbrook School for the Blind to experience the Manchester City-Wydad AC match at Lincoln Financial Field. The technology includes a board with a small magnetic ring that represents the ball and moves about the simulated pitch. Both versions feature an option to add audio commentary, along with a haptic language of sorts that communicates different plays and outcomes with unique vibrations. The user knows almost immediately whether there’s been a pass or a tackle, and whether a shot sailed wide or found its mark.

The technology has been adapted to multiple sports, although both versions have football at their core. Indeed, OneCourt’s founder was originally inspired by a photo of a woman helping her blind companion follow a match by moving his hands across a flat board while a student at the University of Washington. Back in Seattle, where the devices were provided in collaboration with SeattleFWC26, RJ Lenhart-Warabiminami tried one of the devices for the first time inside a stadium and called the experience “absolutely incredible”. She had attended live sports in the past but never felt like she was truly part of the crowd. At the Club World Cup, she could cheer alongside everyone else. “Before I had a device, people would be cheering and I would have to wait for everybody to calm down and then maybe they would be able to talk to me, but then it would kind of just become a burden,” she said. “I love to be around sports, especially with groups. But it’s a different feeling when I can actually have my hands on the device and I’m experiencing the same exact thing as other people at the same time.”

FIFA is trialling several solutions during the FIFA Club World Cup™ to enhance fan experience and accessibility, in keeping with its focus on social responsibility and inclusivity. Audio Descriptive Commentary has also been made available at matches and the fan operations team continues to explore innovations on and off the pitch to enhance the fan experience – both as FIFA welcome’s the world’s best clubs to the United States this summer and as the FIFA World Cup™ comes to Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026.