From PE ‘hazard’ to Para Lionesses captain: Sam Gough finds freedom with guide dog Helga ahead of European Championship
Para Lionesses captain prepares for Istanbul showdown
Sam Gough is preparing for the 2026 IBSA Women’s Blind Football European Championship, which gets under way in Istanbul on Saturday, with the England captain feeling confident after a breakthrough year for the Para Lionesses.
The 23-year-old, who lives in Edinburgh, is in camp at Poltonhall Sports Complex in Bonnyrigg alongside Helga, her three-year-old black Labrador guide dog. The pair have been partnered for a year, a moment Gough describes as liberating.
“It was as if I was a bird trapped in a cage and finally was able to fly and spread my wings,” Gough said in an exclusive interview with Moving the Goalposts. “As I train full-time in two sports, my training load is a lot and I used to have to rely on my parents to drive me up and down the country. Helga’s changed that because I can get to camps by myself.”
She recalled learning about Helga while getting her nails done. “I remember finding out about her, sitting in the nail salon getting my nails done and I got a phone call. I just remember crying, I was so emotional. You wait for so long for this life-changing moment.”
One of the first independent trips with Helga was a simple shop for milk. “Growing up, I was always setting myself goals, [such as] ‘what age will I be able to go independently to the shops and get milk?’ And I gave myself until 18 to do it. When I got to 18, I wasn’t able to. Then when I got Helga, one of the first things I did was go down to the local shops and get a pint of milk. ‘Finally’, I was able to do something so simple, and it really just sunk in how valuable it is, having a guide dog in my life.”
From exclusion to England captain
Gough has cerebral vision impairment caused by damage to the connecting pathways between her eyes and brain at birth. Her sight declined through childhood and she now competes as a B1 blind athlete. A Scot, she is eligible for England because Scotland does not have a women’s blind football team; Wales also does not field a side, so the English squad draws players from across Britain.
England’s captain since 2022, Gough is regarded as one of the world’s best strikers. Blind football is played five-a-side with all four outfield players wearing eye masks and spectators remaining silent. Players must shout “voy” before a tackle and the ball contains metal plates to create a rattling sound.
“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 said. “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.”
Football was a childhood passion, but Gough was taken out of PE and bullied at school.
“I 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’. I thought that that dream would never really come to fruition, until I went to the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford. There, I tried blind football for the first time and realised the football door would open for me.”
She now advocates for inclusive sport. “As I’ve grown up I’ve been able to realise that actually things weren’t acceptable and that was an exclusion in sport, where younger Sam was told that she couldn’t take part. It’s why I’m such a big advocate now for sport to be inclusive and young people to have the opportunity.”
World runners-up target European crown
England, known as the Para Lionesses, finished runners-up in the inaugural women’s European Championship in Pescara four years ago, losing to Germany, and were also runners-up at the 2025 World Championship in India, losing to Argentina in the final after wins over Japan, Poland and India.
In Turkey they will face Austria, Poland, hosts Turkey and a neutral para team. The tournament is a stepping stone to the next World Championship in São Paulo, Brazil, in October 2027.
“Travelling to Turkey this week for the Euros is ‘nerve-racking’ but adds: ‘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.’
Beyond football, Gough was second in the Home International Rowing Beach Sprints two days before the interview, representing Scotland in rowing, and received an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours in June for services to sport and the visually impaired community. She has taught blind football to schoolchildren, to Brazilian icons Kaká and Cafu, and given demonstrations to Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses.