While the delta variant scares London and jeopardizes the final phase of Euro 2020, even if Uefa has just authorized the increase in capacity from 22 thousand to 40 thousand spectators for the matches scheduled at Wembley, it is already time to take stock of the event. continental that saw with the return of the fans to the stadium a first great sign of normality after the darkest months of the pandemic. Making these advances possible was also the choice of opting for cutting-edge technologies and the implementation of a mobile ticketing app.
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An experiment that began with the Europa League final in Gdansk and the Champions League final in Porto. In fact, in just four days SecuTix Solutions and Uefa have in fact made use of the mobile ticketing system to welcome fans safely, also managing the change of venue of the Champions League. The final was originally scheduled in Istanbul. But supporters of the two English clubs Manchester City and Chelsea could not have traveled smoothly to Turkey due to the restrictions of the pandemic. On 13 May, just over two weeks before the match, UEFA therefore evaluated the opportunity to transfer the final to Porto. «This is the first time that the location of a sports competition has been changed at such short notice – explains Caspar Fall, SecuTix Senior Project Manager -. UEFA used our platform to organize a new match from scratch in a new venue. Thankfully, UEFA had already organized matches in Porto during the Nations League Finals in 2019, so the seating map was already available and the stadium’s access control system was already integrated. The team was thus able to concentrate on the biggest challenge: allocating tickets for the new headquarters with just over two weeks of time ».
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The new ticket system
«For the general public, mainly composed of local Portuguese spectators, we organized a flash sale, which took place on the basis of the“ first come ”principle – added Fall -. This was a first for UEFA, which has always preferred to run lotteries to cope with the high demand for tickets. In this case, there was no time to run a lottery and 1,700 tickets were quickly bought by the public ”. In this case, all tickets were sold exclusively through UEFA.com and distributed on the mobile ticketing platform, less than a week before the match.
Blockchain technology
Although Blockchain has been used for mobile ticketing in other Europa League finals, the debut of digital tickets in the Champions League was on May 30 in Porto. The system used Blockchain-based technology to create secure mobile tickets for Android and iOS smartphones, generating a single, encrypted ticket that is fully traceable, thus also eliminating the risk of counterfeit tickets while simplifying the transfer or re-entry process. transfer of tickets. Basically, using the app, fans who have bought tickets can securely download, transfer, store or assign a ticket to a guest at any time. The SecuTix platform thus allowed the sale of 5700 tickets for the Europa League final – corresponding to 63% of the tickets available – delivered through the app. For the final of Champions League4,500 tickets were sold – 28% – on mobile. Each of the finalist clubs had 6,000 tickets available for their supporters, through direct sales.
Local health restrictions
An additional complication for Euro 2020 was the different social distancing rules in each host country. In Poland, the authorities allowed the stadium to allocate tickets for a quarter of full capacity (9,500 tickets), while the Estádio do Dragão in Porto allowed the sale of 33% of the seats, equal to 16,500 tickets. managing the seats according to the rules of social distancing, UEFA blocked three quarters of the seats in Gdansk and two thirds in Porto. The seats have therefore been kept at individual distance, in the form of a chessboard. This allowed us to know in advance the exact capacity for each stadium and allowed us to better allocate seats as sales progressed. Commenting on the two finals, Philippe Margraff, Head of Revenue Operations Uefa, said: “Both matches were handled excellently, and spectators entered the stadiums smoothly using their mobile tickets. The two Finals have already shown us the effectiveness of the Blockchain mobile ticketing, which we are using more widely also at UEFA Euro 2020 ».