UEFA.com accessible version goes live

The UEFA.com accessible version has been launched – enabling users with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive impairments to view in a more accessible fashion the official website for European football.

The accessible UEFA.com, which went live on 11 January, comes in a text-only format that allows users easier navigation and consumption of content. Visit http://ac.uefa.com/ now.

The core elements of the newly-launched site are the All News section and the Fixtures and Results section, both of which will bring users completely up-to-date with the latest goings-on in European football across the domestic leagues and leading club and national team competitions.

UEFA activities and events are also covered along with youth, futsal and women's football tournaments, in a site which comes available in seven languages – English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and Russian.

The greater freedom that this bespoke version of the website affords disabled users was welcomed by Joyce Cook, managing director at the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE).

"CAFE has worked extensively with UEFA, advising on the supportive measures required for UEFA.com to provide easier access to partially sighted and blind users," she said. "We are very satisfied with the results so far and it is great to see UEFA addressing such an important area of inclusion.

"We look forward to assisting UEFA with further developments to their website which will incorporate additional features to assist users with severely limited mobility, hearing, and learning disabilities. We are all focusing on a final product that will be a fully integrated platform that everyone will be able to enjoy and benefit from."

The UEFA.com team, in close cooperation with the project sponsor, UEFA's social responsibility unit, is working hard to make its product as accessible as possible. The idea of accessibility is to help people with disabilities participate in the information society of new technologies. People who are blind or visually impaired, in particular, can benefit from visual information courtesy of screen reading and screen magnification programmes.