The UEFA has joined forces with Ethereal mobile wallet provider AlphaWallet to sell 20,000 VIP tickets for the UEFA Euro 2020 through blockchain technology.
This is the second time that AlphaWallet will be working with football after partnering with Shankai, the Chinese sports organization, for the FIFA World Cup. Through the partnership, the UEFA will be able to tokenize tickets and fans’ tickets can be verified without using UEFA’s centralized ticketing system. In a statement to Digital Journal, AlphaWallet’s CEO Victor Zhang said that by tokenizing tickets, fans will see “lower ticket prices, due to a healthier and more efficient marketplace.” Additionally, the process of ticket buying can be monitored on both the primary and secondary market. He noted that this means exorbitant ticket prices won’t exist, along with “no more paper, no more sign up/log in, no more copy/paste.”
“It means no more primary or secondary market, there will be only one free, open and regulated market,” Zhang said. “Free means (fewer) fractions; (open means) open to anyone who wants to participate; Regulated means rules are defined using smart contracts.”
Through the joint venture, UEFA will also be able to regulate the sale of tickets and restrict the number of resales.
Late last year, the UEFA announced that it would cap ticket prices for away fans in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Ticket prices will be capped at a maximum of €70 ($76.90) in the Champions League and €45 ($49) in the Europa League in order to ensure that the price of ticketing for the visiting team does not exceed the pice paid for tickets of a comparable category sold to fans of the home team. This new rule follows UEFA’s “fan first” ticket strategy for Euro 2020, which was announced after fans faced difficulties scoring tickets to the the Champions League and Europa Final last year, calling allocation “measly.”
Ticket sales will be separated into three phases, with 2.5 million tickets put aside for fans of the participating teams and the general public.
