Regulations require sports clubs to verify the identities of ticket purchasers, but current methods for checking IDs at stadium gates are ineffective. This creates a problematic gap: clubs are held accountable for who enters, but lack the tools to enforce it. Facial recognition at stadiums, while currently banned for access control, offers a solution to this security conundrum.
One point where facial recognition at stadiums can get confusing is its role. It aims to replace two different functions at once: access and security. For access, it allows the use of a face as a ticket, eliminating the need to carry any ticket. For security purposes, its role is akin to that of security staff: it checks whether a person is a known hooligan or a fraudster. It performs this task more quickly and accurately than any person ever could, resulting in virtually zero errors. Any error could lead to a security incident, a fine for the club, or both—not to mention negative coverage of the game and perceived insecurity of the venue. Let’s look at these two roles of facial recognition in more detail.
Role 1: Your Face is Your Ticket
To verify the identity of a ticket holder at the entrance gate, the spectator does not need any ticket or token. The face, and only the face, is literally the ticket. The venue owner or club doesn’t need to know the name or any other personally identifiable information. They just use the image of a face to check whether a given person has indeed bought a ticket.
Facial recognition is being considered by football clubs with great interest. It’s no surprise—the benefits can easily outweigh the costs. The technology promises to eliminate fines for unruly fans, prevent hooliganism and fights at the stadium, and consequently attract 10% to 15% more families to stadiums, as estimated by Lorin Parys, CEO of the Pro League.
“There is a hard core of 2 to 3 percent of the spectators – I don’t want to call them fans – who are holding our football hostage today. We want that 2 to 3 percent out of our stadiums, because then we will grow 10 to 15 percent in spectator numbers. These are families with children who are staying away today. We want to make stadiums safe again.”
Lorin Parys, CEO of the Pro League
Additionally, it can reduce long waiting lines and dangerous bottlenecks, and eradicate fake tickets or overpriced reselling.
Fans are also receptive to this idea. Contrary to fears about their faces being “stolen” and misused, existing deployements show that fans are seeking security, comfort, and fair pricing.
Role 2: Security Without Mistakes
The security aspect is promoted mostly by federations and regulators that require clubs to verify the identities of ticket buyers and to authorize the entry to the stadium upon presentation of a valid Ticket per person (regardless of age) and proof of identity of the Ticket Holder with valid photograph (UEFA UEFA EURO 2024™TICKETING TERMS AND CONDITIONS). Simply, they should know who is at the stadium during events. This is not for faster access or more accurate fan data; it’s to limit the security threats posed by unruly fans and other external threats, such as terrorism, that all mass events unfortunately face. Unlike using facial recognition as a face ticket for stadium access, using it to prevent security incidents, eliminate racism, or keep dangerous individuals out of stadiums requires associating the face with personally identifiable information.
Achieving the security requirements set by regulators without facial recognition technology is nearly impossible. Manual identity checks at the stadium gates would involve staff verifying ticket names against IDs and matching faces to ID photos, which is less accurate than biometrics. It would also result in longer waiting lines and more risky bottlenecks.
Not to mention the risks of false positives and negatives. In the first case, security could detain innocent persons due to a suspicious name or behavior, according to staff judgment. In the second case, failure to identify a known hooligan due to a false ID means security and financial risks. Both of these risks are not only minimized with biometrics but can also be precisely measured and easily mitigated, resulting in virtually no errors.
Currently, despite the requirements, these identity checks are not effectively enforced. This creates a situation where important rules are in place but are impractical to implement without technological support.
The Privacy Dilemma
The main concern preventing the full adoption of facial recognition is privacy and GDPR compliance. Clubs face a tradeoff between creating a safe experience for their fans, avoiding issues like racism and vandalism, and protecting their privacy.
GDPR stipulates that less intrusive methods of identification should be used if available. While paper tickets are less intrusive for access control, they do not represent an alternative for reducing security risks at mass events like facial recognition.
While the right to privacy is certainly one of the most important pillars of a free society, it is also important to measure the true risks related to each of these two use cases.
Data Breaches
It is true that to implement a face ticket solution, the faces or biometric templates of attendees must be captured and stored in a database for matching at the entrance gate. It is also true that these faces do not have to be kept in the same system as all other personal data, such as names, addresses, … The privacy-proof solution design keeps these two datasets separated, thereby mitigating the risk.
The solutions providing face identification services also operate on high-security software architecture that complies with the strictest data protection requirements.
It is also important to acknowledge that there have been no confirmed cases of full-blown identity theft solely from a leaked facial recognition database as most entities will require liveness checks for opening bank accounts and other tasks. The primary risk associated with a facial database breach is the possibility for malicious actors to combine leaked facial data with other publicly available information to create a more complete profile. Needless to say, the main sources of this public information are social networks that already contain both faces and publicly available personal information.
Identification in Public Areas
Another significant concern is the identification of individuals in public areas. This issue rightfully ranks among the most feared abuses of facial recognition technology. Particularly detrimental to democracy and human rights, it is extensively covered and discussed in the world’s only AI regulation, the AI Act.
It is also true that for face ticket systems to function, faces need to be identified, and cameras are positioned at the stadium gates. The identification is possible only against a list of individuals who have opted in for such identification.
Most importantly, the ethical aspect of protecting other individuals that did not want their faces scanned is addressed at the technological level. A properly designed face ticket solution has the capability to restrict the exact area within the camera’s view where identification occurs, with accuracy down to tens of centimeters. This designated area can be clearly marked so that individuals who do not wish to have their faces identified can avoid it.
Facial recognition at stadiums – Experience from Existing Deployments
Facial recognition technology is deemed high-risk due to significant privacy concerns. However, in countries where face tickets are fully deployed—such as the Brazil, and Mexico—it is implemented with individual consent in controlled environments.
Stadiums offer a controlled setting where consent is easily obtained, and biometric data can be securely managed. Ticket holders retain constant control over their data and can request its deletion after the event. This approach has shown positive outcomes, including reduced hate crimes, the apprehension of wanted individuals (e.g., the Palmeiras case), increased match day revenue for clubs, and the elimination of bottlenecks.
Facial recognition technology currently stands as the most effective solution to stadium security challenges. There is no less intrusive alternative that provides the same level of safety and convenience. Beyond security benefits, facial recognition enhances stadium experiences by preventing ticket fraud, curbing abusive ticket reselling, ensuring fair pricing, expediting entry, and enabling secure payments.
The first clubs to adopt facial recognition at stadiums will win with their fan base. By embracing facial recognition, clubs can ensure a safer and more enjoyable experience for their fans while also reaping the financial and operational benefits that come with it.
