AbilityNet, the technology and disability charity, has discovered that World Cup websites are inaccessible to many thousands of disabled fans - a lapse which is not only disappointing to many, but leaves both organisations in danger of falling foul of the law.

In a "State of the eNation" report looking at the two main World Cup websites, neither were found to meet even the minimum level of accessibility required by fans with a disability who wish to follow the action online.

The two sites reviewed were the English version of FIFA's World Cup site - fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/ - and the FA's World Cup site - thefa.com/WorldCup2006.

Abilitynet looked at both usability and accessibility with a programme of automated tools, as well as a wide range of manual checks.

Only sites which meet the basic needs of visitors with a vision impairment, dyslexia or physical problem making mouse use difficult, attain three stars and above.

FIFA's World Cup site was awarded only one star (out of a possible five), while the FA's World Cup site obtained only two. Neither gained the minimum level required to ensure basic accessibility to most disabled visitors.

AbilityNet also asked a number of disabled fans to try using the two websites.

Terry, who is blind and relies on speech output software, said: "Listening to unintelligible links time after time is extremely frustrating as you can imagine and totally unhelpful.

"Many areas of FIFA's site were difficult or impossible to use and, despite my best efforts, I was unable to buy a ticket. As with so many sites I want to use I'm in the dark! I think I'll follow the cup on the radio."

Darren, who is paralysed and controls the mouse using an infra-red headset, was happier: "The FA site includes games that I was actually able to play with my head operated mouse - many online games need the keyboard."

Online games should offer both keyboard and mouse controls as some users, like Darren, cannot easily use a keyboard while others cannot use a mouse. Unfortunately the same games were not able to be used by AbilityNet's keyboard tester.

The report's author is Robin Christopherson, AbilityNet's head of accessibility services and himself blind.

He said: "As well as a moral obligation to make websites more inclusive there is also a legal one.

"The first successful case was against the official Sydney Olympics website back in 2000 when a blind supporter was unable to access information on the different sporting events online.

"Here we have two websites in an almost identical situation, and we don't seem to have made any real progress in the intervening six years. "It's been law in the UK since 1999 to ensure that your website is designed to accessibility standards and it's only a matter of time before we see successful cases being fought here in the UK."

A range of recent reports has mirrored AbilityNet's disappointing findings - confirming that between 80 and 96 per cent of websites reviewed do not even meet a minimum accessibility threshold.

The charity says it appears there has been no discernable movement towards accessibility since the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) investigation in 2004, which was designed to both raise awareness of the issue and offer guidance to site developers.

AbilityNet was also on the panel that helped produce the recently launched PAS 78 - Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites, published by the DRC in collaboration with the RNIB and British Standards Institute (BSI).

Mr Christopherson stressed: "There is really no longer any valid excuse for producing or operating an inaccessible website which excludes thousands of visitors. The PAS guide offers a clear, easy to follow and cost effective path to accessibility."

The charity says that the business case is nonetheless compelling.

A commercial website that was recently re-launched in a more accessible format - legalandgeneralgroup.com - has seen a 66 per cent saving in maintenance costs, a 30 per cent increase in natural search engine traffic, a 75 per cent reduction in time to load a page and an additional 13,000 visitors each month from improved browser compatibility alone.

Legal and General anticipate recouping its outlay in only five to six months. AbilityNet says this clearly illustrates the potential commercial edge an accessible site offers.