KAA Gent makes stadium accessible for all fans

KAA Gent makes stadium accessible for all fans

In recent years, KAA Gent has strongly focused on inclusion and accessibility: every KAA Gent supporter must be able to attend competitions in the Ghelamco Arena. It is an assignment that the KAA Gent Foundation takes to heart, in close collaboration with all services involved with the matchday organisation in the stadium.

The number of disabled supporters of KAA Gent has increased more than tenfold since the move to the Ghelamco Arena. At top matches the club hosts 250 Buffalos with a limitation or with limited mobility in the stadium. KAA Gent is working on the accessibility project for the past 10 years and its now bearing fruit.

Mentality:

We should not bother: despite the recent investments in many Belgian football stadiums, accessibility remains a challenge for fans with a disability. Football supporters with limited mobility often stay in the cold (even literally), even if they go to a club with a newly built grandstand.

When the Ghelamco Arena was designed, old rules and accessibility conditions applied. Nevertheless, the various partners have done everything possible to make the stadium as accessible as possible when it is finished. A lot of goodwill, some important technical interventions and clear agreements have paid off since: KAA Gent never had more supporters with a limitation or with a limited mobility than today. And new upgrades are added every week.

Customization:

Everyone likes to come to the Ghelamco Arena to enjoy top football in a vibrant atmosphere. Naturally, everyone really deserves a good and comfortable competition experience. That is why KAA Gent offers customized assistance, adapted infrastructure and clear communication. In the Ghelamco Arena, adapted toilets, lowered arches, places with more legroom, lifts, wheelchair platforms, stairs with contrasting stair noses and floor tiles provide more comfort. For supporters with a visual impairment there is an audio description: commentators describe what is happening from the press stand. The signal can be received throughout the stadium with ears that you can reserve at the KAA Gent Foundation.

INTER

We deploy at least 6 assistance stewards in every competition: volunteers from INTER, the organisation that makes events accessible to everyone. They are recognizable by their white jackets. The meeting point is entrance C.

Supporters with limited mobility can take the lift to the promenade there. Also with all your questions about accessibility or assistance fans can go to the white jackets. Together with them, stewards, attendants and assistants from emergency and security services work every match on a stadium accessible to everyone.

DAO

The INTER assistance stewards are deployed by the KAA Gent Foundation. In our country, our community operation plays a pioneering role in the fight for accessible football stadiums. KAA Gent participates in INSIDE, the national platform for supporters with a disability. This platform wants to use dialogue to encourage Belgian professional clubs to finally work on better accessibility. Unfortunately, that remains very necessary. INSIDE is gathering in the Ghelamco Arena for a new round of meetings before the end of the year.

Especially in international football, the theme of accessibility is increasingly on the agenda. Since 2015, the European football organization UEFA has demanded that every club has a Disability and Accessibility Officer or DAO in service: a person takes into account the accessibility of the stadium and the needs of supporters with a disability or with limited mobility. In Gent, the KAA Gent Foundation takes over the role of DAO on behalf of KAA Gent.