Sam Gough: from being called ‘a hazard’ in PE to Para Lionesses captain ahead of 2026 IBSA Euros
Sam Gough, the England women’s blind football captain, is preparing in Edinburgh for the 2026 IBSA Women’s Blind Football European Championship, which gets under way in Istanbul on Saturday. She says partnering with her guide dog Helga last year has transformed her daily life and independence.
Gough, 23, competes in the B1 blind classification after cerebral vision impairment reduced her sight during childhood and is based in Edinburgh. As a Scot she is eligible to play for England because Scotland and Wales do not field women’s blind football teams, so the English squad includes players from across Britain. England’s captain since 2022, Gough is described in the source material as one of the best strikers in the world. Blind football is a five-a-side game and the England team are known as the Para Lionesses.
Helga, a three-year-old black labrador, accompanied Gough during training at Poltonhall Sports Complex in Bonnyrigg and was briefly distracted by a pigeon outside the changing rooms. Gough says the partnership came at a pivotal moment: "It was as if I was a bird trapped in a cage and finally was able to fly and spread my wings," and she adds, "Helga’s changed that because I can get to camps by myself." The interview took place two days after Gough claimed second place in the Home International Rowing Beach Sprints, where she rowed for Scotland, underlining that she trains full-time in two sports and previously relied on her parents to travel to camps.
The blind football format requires all four outfield players to wear eye masks, demands silence from spectators during play, and obliges players to shout "voy" before tackling; metal plates inside the ball create an audible rattling. The ball’s construction affects striking and contact: Gough said, "when you’re striking a ball, your big toe can get quite sore. My toenail is no longer existent because you’re hitting off a metal plate all the time!" She also stressed the physical demands of the sport, saying: "Balance is very, very, very important. You’re playing a game just through hearing and battling so your stability has to be really, really strong to your core."
The Para Lionesses will join Austria, Poland, the host nation and a neutral para team in Turkey for the inaugural women’s European Championship’s follow-up edition; the first women’s tournament was held in Pescara on Italy’s Adriatic coast four years ago, when England finished runners-up to Germany. England were also runners-up at the 2025 World Championship in India, losing to Argentina in the final after victories over Japan, Poland and India. That world finals performance is part of the squad’s recent form heading into the Istanbul event.
On the eve of the Euros Gough described travel as "nerve-racking" but pointed to the India results as a confidence boost: "Our performance at the World Champs in India just really gave us the confidence we needed. There are a couple of teams that are strong and we’re just going to go into each game really having confidence in our ability as a squad and supporting each other for it," she said.
Gough recounted early barriers to participation in mainstream sport, saying she "really wanted to be involved but, as I lost more and more of my vision, I was told I wasn’t going to be able to participate in sport. I was actually removed from PE due to being a ‘hazard’." She discovered blind football at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, which she credits with opening the door back into the game, and has since campaigned for inclusive sporting opportunities after experiencing bullying in her youth.
In June this year Gough received an MBE in the king’s birthday honours list for her services to sport and the visually impaired community; she has taught blind football to schoolchildren, instructed the Brazilian players Kaká and Cafu, and given demonstrations to some of Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses. Postcode Lottery players are helping Guide Dogs to fund partnerships like Sam and Helga; Gough travels to Turkey this week for the Euros, a campaign that comes a year before the next World Championship in October 2027 in São Paulo, Brazil.