'Now I'm part of the crowd' - the tech helping visually impaired football fans

Sitting in the stands, watching your team play - it's got to be one of the best ways to watch live football.

But for fans with visual impairment, like Sophia, there's a risk of missing out on the action.

In 2022, the Royal National Institute of Blind People found that blind and partially sighted people were half as likely to attend live sporting events compared to the England average.

Sophia is a Crystal Palace fan, and last season the club introduced special headsets that can help people with visual impairment see the match better.

Ricky went along to find out how the tech has changed the game for Sophia.

Could more fans get access to this tech?

Sophia's eye condition is called bi-macular atrophy, which affects both eyes and is very rare.

It means Sophia struggles to see things that are further way, with faded and blurred patches making it difficult to see details.

"My retina is damaged, and it stops me from seeing the detail... it's very blurry for me, and I can't really see the players kicking the ball."

But now fans with visual impairment at her club can access a sight headset for free, which Sophia says has made a huge difference.

"Before [having the headset] I felt disconnected, but now I feel like I'm part of the crowd."

This is what Sophia sees when she zooms, live, into the game

Made by tech company GiveVision and using a special network from Shared Access, the headset allows fans to zoom in and out of the game using a controller, so that they can see what's going on up close.

They can also watch a live feed of the TV coverage of the game in real time.

So far, this tech is only available at Crystal Palace, so Ricky asked the company about other football clubs providing the headsets for their fans.

GiveVision's Head of Operations Joanna Liddington said: "We were doing lots of work behind the scenes at other clubs.

"I think as we're getting more away fans [at Crystal Palace] trying out the headset, then they're going back to their clubs and saying 'oh, let's try this out'.

"As more and more fans go back and say that they want this, we should see this in more and more clubs."

Shall we get a selfie? Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi is a fan of the new tech

Whilst filming for Newsround Sophia got a big surprise when one of her favourite players, Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi, came to join her.

It's not the first time they've met - Sophia's been on the pitch with him before as her club's first mascot with visual impairment.

Ricky asked the star player if he thought the headset is something that more children with visual impairment should have at games.

"I think so," said Marc. "Giving children the opportunity to be able to experience things that they're not able to experience to the fullest, is definitely something that I think everyone should be able to do."