As we draw towards the end of 2025, it's apparent that this is a calendar year none of us will ever forget – not least young football fan Sophia.
A special Palace story: Sophia’s Christmas Surprise
What a time it is to be a Crystal Palace fan – and what a special time, you can imagine, it is to be growing up a young Palace supporter.
Sophia, like many of us, experienced the ultimate highs of our days at Wembley back in April, May and August, and many before and after them at Selhurst Park – but for her, the experiences were remarkable for a whole other reason.
Possessing an eye condition called bi-macular atrophy, which affects both eyes and is very rare, Sophia is visually impaired and struggles to see details, with her distance vision affected. But through a revolutionary vision enhancement system, GiveVision, in action at the club, Sophia – who was a Season Ticket Holder for two years before the headset was introduced – has had her matchday experience transformed, allowing her to experience Palace's most successful year in a truly ground-breaking, life-changing fashion.
And so, to celebrate a wonderful year for her and the club, we brought Sophia down to our Christmas shoot where – as a surprise – she was able to meet the likes of Manager Oliver Glasner, club legend Mark Bright her favourite player Yéremy Pino, and more – and relive the memories that we, as a Crystal Palace family, have made together this year.
“Having the headset for the year that she’s had it has been phenomenal,” Sophia’s father reflected.
“To see Palace achieve so much as well… it’s just all those memories she has now, and times that we’ve spent together, that she’ll have for the rest of her life.”
Watch what happened in the Palace TV video above, and see the best photos below.
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Palace’s ground-breaking initiative, in partnership with GiveVision and Shared Access, saw us last season become the first football club in English history to offer for fans with sight loss.
The GiveVision headset, powered by a state-of-the-art private 5G network designed and installed at Selhurst Park by Shared Access, streams live match footage directly to fans in real time.
This cutting-edge system delivers an immersive, sharp stereoscopic feed to the working part of the user’s retina, enhancing remaining vision and enabling them to follow the game in unprecedented detail.
Find out more about Palace, GiveVision and Shared Access here.