England v China at Wembley Stadium: A blind fan’s matchday experience

Attending a Lionesses match at Wembley Stadium has been on my bucket list since women’s football found its way into my life. It’s the home of the England national team after all.

Being at a match at the iconic Wembley stadium is the stuff of dreams for football fans, I’m telling you. At least it is for me anyway.

There was no better time to make that a reality than the Lionesses’ homecoming series off the back of their 2025 Women’s Euros triumph over the summer.

Not long after the success, England announced their first match of a group of friendlies during two international windows in October and November. That included a match at Wembley Stadium on 29 November against Asian Cup champions China. Two reigning champions playing against each other, yes please.

I set too to try and grab tickets if I should be so lucky.

As you can gather from the title of this blog post, luck was on my side.

Here’s an insight into my first ever visit to Wembley Stadium as a blind fan.

 

Booking tickets

Like I always do whenever I’m planning on attending a big event like a football match, I looked up the info on accessibility. I found Wembley’s information on accessibility to be clear and comprehensive. When the tickets went on sale at the start of August, I was straight on the phone to the Access team.

I was aware that booking tickets for any event at Wembley is a task in itself. With the recent success of the Lionesses, I knew demand would be high for tickets.

When making the call, I was placed in a phone queue and would get a call back when I was at the front.

I waited around 45 minutes, and duly received a call back. The person on the phone went through the process, and a few minutes later I’d purchased my tickets. I was seeing the Lionesses at Wembley!

They also told me where I needed to collect my headset for the audio descriptive commentary from on the day of the match.

 

The match

Saturday 29 November arrived in a flash, and it only meant one thing: matchday was here!

Me and my dad arrived in London and made our way to the stadium on a packed tube.

Wembley Way was buzzing with excitement, and music filled our ears. I’ve never been around that many people in my life.

We made our way round the stadium to the entrance we needed. My dad said everything was well signposted.

A steward kindly told us about the accessible entrance which was just round the corner, so we headed there instead.

Once inside the stadium, our next task was to find one of the customer information booths where we needed to get my audio descriptive commentary headset. I’d done some preparation in advance and found our nearest info booth, so we headed there.

In order to be given a headset there was a form that needed to be filled out.

If anyone reading this happens to be planning their first visit to Wembley and will be using their audio descriptive commentary service, I’d recommend giving yourselves plenty of time to allow for the form filling and collection of the headset.

Once done, headset in hand, we set out to find our seats.

 

It didn’t take us long to find our spot. We got seated right in the middle of the celebration of recently retired Lioness, Fran Kirby. Fran is one of the best to have put on an England shirt – with 77 caps to her name, and she was a member of the winning 2022 Euros squad. She’s also been through a lot with her health, bouncing back every single time.

Singer songwriter Self Esteem took to the stage, performing her song Focus Is Power.

Between all of this, the commentators were describing the scenes we were witnessing – the players huddles on the pitch, the flags adorning the stadium and the atmosphere building in the stands, and informing us about the team news.

It was then time for the national anthems ahead of kick-off.

And we were underway!

There was a debut for England goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse between the sticks.

England started with the momentum we all love. It was China who were on the front foot first, as Anna Moorhouse was forced to deal with a corner. From then on though, the Lionesses made it an evening to remember.

It only took 12 minutes for the Lionesses to make their mark, with Beth Mead on the end of a smart move between Georgia Stanway and Lucy Bronze, with her first touch setting up an excellent finish. That was the first goal, with more to come. My audio description echoing the celebrations to me, that of which erupted around the stadium.

Two minutes later, Mead was at it again, adding a second goal.

Lauren Hemp’s delightful ball found Ella Toone, and she provided Mead with an easy tap-in.

I was told of England’s fluidity after that moment. Those words by the audio describers were the music to my ears, as Lauren Hemp added a third.

China were unable to keep up with the passing and fast-pace from England. This was proved by the commentators telling me the pass rate of the two sides.

Beth Mead was in the mood to get a third, although her next shot went just wide. The reaction of the crowd and the audio description exclaiming how close it was.

It was Georgia Stanway’s turn next. Hemp dispossessed China’s Li Mengwen before her cross was parried by a rushing Pan Hongyan. Stanway fired home on a half-volley, cushioning the ball safely into the net. That all happened after 23 minutes. I couldn’t believe what I was experiencing.

 

Although the game slowed down, my audio description was telling me that England were pushing for a fifth, urged on by us fans in the stands with chants and the chorus of Sweet Caroline.

Next, China were punished for a handball in the area. This could be an early Christmas present for England.

There were a few minutes of a VAR check, with the audio describers telling me what they could see on the screens, along with the actions from the referee who had been instructed to look at the screen. Pointing to the box, that meant one thing: there was an opportunity for an England fifth.

Hands on her hips, so the audio description said, Stanway did what she did best, and scored the fifth from the penalty spot before half-time.

The whistle blew and it was time for the break.

 

Sarina Wiegman made three changes at half-time, meaning Beth Mead couldn’t get her hat-trick.

China started to look more comfortable in the second half, although the audio description said that didn’t last long.

Georgia Stanway was fed a ball by Ella Toone and slotted the ball past China’s goalkeeper, Pan. She was now on a hat-trick.

“Hat-trick hero Stanway” one of the commentators said. They were right.

Stanway became only the third Lioness to score a hat-trick at Wembley. What a Special record to experience.

A little later on, “She slipped there”, that was the words from the audio describer, referring to China’s goalkeeper, who was closed down by Alessia Russo to give Toone an easy goal in the 71^st minute. Those who know me will know that an Alessia Russo and Ella Toone link-up gets me excited.

That link-up play happened once again, as Toone gave her third assist of the night to her best mate Alessia Russo. That was the eighth goal of the night.

 

There was time for more substitutions from both sides before the end of the match. It was great to see Sarina Wiegman bringing on familiar faces, plus some bright young stars.

China had the final meaningful attacks of the game as Anna Moorhouse was called into action to make her first save of the night. A China player chipped an effort to the keeper before a weak shot from the visitors ensured a clean sheet for the England goalkeeper on her debut.

Although she might not have been called into action too much, she kept a clean sheet on her first cap. That’s something to be proud of regardless.

 

After a couple of additional minutes, the final whistle was blown. The commentators gave a quick match analysis before instructing us where to return our headsets. Their closing remarks were wishing us a merry Christmas since it was the final event of the year.

I was beaming from ear to ear when returning the headset and making our way out of the stadium.

 

The audio descriptive commentary

With it being my first visit to Wembley, I had no idea what to expect of the audio descriptive commentary. Given that it’s the national stadium, I had high hopes.

I was impressed from the first couple of minutes, when the two commentators described the atmosphere in the stands and the team kits.

I was told of some of the details of the kits like Lauren Hemp’s pink boots, Chloe Kelly’s trademark headband, and one of the China players wearing a face-mask due to a recent injury.

Right before kick-off, I was given the information about the pyrotechnics, and the glimpse of the Euro 2025 trophy. Oh I’ll never get tired of hearing about that.

I also appreciated some of the little gestures like the passing of the captain’s armband when players were substituted. I’d have never known that it made its way from Keira Walsh to Lucy Bronze, Alessia Russo and Jess Park without that.

One of my favourite parts though was right before Georgia Stanway’s penalty. I was told that she had her hands on her hips, and the next thing I knew, it had been slotted home. Those are the sort of details you don’t get from standard audio commentary. For me, they’re the bits I love the most about audio descriptive commentary.

It’s the things that sighted fans can see. Being told that information audibly helps me to be in the moment just like all the fans around me.

They didn’t leave me guessing at any point of the match. The players warming up, the substitutions, reactions of the managers and signals from the referee to identify key moments of the match were all given to me audibly.

I was really impressed by the audio descriptive commentary. Although nothing compares to the service at Arsenal, it’s definitely up there as one of my favourites. I mean, it had to be. It’s Wembley.

I felt included in the match from start to finish. The audio describers even provided a few chuckles along the way here and there.

 

An emphatic win, a whopping 8 goals and some brilliant audio descriptive commentary were the icing on the cake of my visit.

I still can’t believe that my bucket list moment of attending a Lionesses match at the iconic Wembley Stadium became a reality.

Being there to see the Lionesses have their biggest ever win under the lights at Wembley Stadium in front of a sold-out crowd, accompanied by some great audio descriptive commentary was more than I ever could have imagined. I can’t quite believe what I witnessed!

Thank you to the Lionesses for an unforgettable evening.

Thank you to the commentators for the audio descriptive commentary.

What a match. What a moment.

My gosh, I love football.

 

Holly x