February 9 – The Greek government has released details of measures being introduced into Greek football in an attempt to tackle football hooliganism in the country’s stadiums.
Minister of Digital Governance of Greece Dimitris Papastergiou and the Deputy Minister of Sports Yiannis Vroutsis presented the measures that will regulate ticket distribution and allow fans to return to stadia.
The government is also bringing in new measures to prevent and deal with criminal behaviour across all sports events.
Greek fans will be allowed back into February 13, with the various measures being gradually introduced. On March 7, every stadium that hosts Super League matches must have cameras at each of the facility’s entrances. From April 9, a special online system will be introduced that will identify every fan who buys a ticket for a given match.
At the same time, the Greek government is preparing a ‘black list’ of fans who will be banned from football matches.
“Until today, the electronic ticket existed, but practically no one checked the identity. Technology and locking the ticket on the mobile phone gives us the solution, through a very simple and friendly process. The purchase of the ticket continues to be done in the way it was done today, that is, through corporate or group ticket pages/platforms. There is no change in this process,” Papastergiou noted.
The ticket created will have a unique number and a QR code or barcode. The identification process that follows and takes place immediately after entry, will be through the Gove.gr Wallet.
The gov-gr Wallet is linked to individual registration in the National Register of Communications – “something that approximately 4 million Greeks have done so far,” added Papastergiou.
Regarding security, Papastergiou said: “The whole process is very simple but also innovative, especially in the identification part for non-Greek citizens through the passport. Is it 100% safe? Obviously not because someone can give their cell phone to someone else or have it stolen. But above the turnstiles there will be cameras, so in case of control, this can be revealed and there will be penalties. The process with NFC is even more secure as it is not copied. It is also worth pointing out that we are creating a blacklist, a blacklist of people who will not be allowed to enter the stadiums. If someone tries to enter a ticket, the system will automatically kick them out.”
Contact the writer of this story. Aleksander Krassimirov, at info@insideworldfootball