Dutch Football Association Experiments With Blockchain Ticketing App

The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), recently experimented with a blockchain-based app, which dispenses tickets to supporters, during the European Championship qualifying match between Netherlands and Estonia on Tuesday. 

According to a Nov. 19 report by Ajax Live, the largest Dutch fanzine owned by the supporters of Dutch’s top tier Football Club AFC Ajax, the app was developed to reduce the counterfeiting and illegal resale of tickets. 

The match, which was held at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam, was the perfect opportunity to test out this blockchain-based app, and a small group of people was selected to carry out the experiment. 

The supporters were granted access to the Arena using an app and not through a PDF file containing their tickets. They can go into the stadium using a barcode that can only be activated if the individual is at a close range with the stadium at a set period. 

The new design makes it totally impossible for anyone to resale his/her admission ticket into the stadium multiple times, although they can still be transferred under KNVB rules. More so, the app reduces the stress that comes with the printing of tickets. 

The report further stated that if this experiment with digital tickets is successful, the app will undergo further development with support from the European Regional Development Fund.

Notably, this test was part of a project embarked on by both KNVB and AFC Ajax to create series of innovative solutions for trial under the “Change the Game Challenge” in collaboration with Johan Cruijff Arena. 

In another similar update uniting blockchain and football, Coinfomania reported that fan tokenization platform, Socios.com added Spanish league side Atletico Madrid to its list of soccer club partners.