GFA to introduce e-ticketing to premier league next season

Football fans will now be able to gain entry to Premier League matches by scanning digital tickets at the stadium gates starting next season, Marketing manager of the Ghana Football Association (GFA, Jamil Maraby has revealed.

“We want to sell tickets without necessarily having it printed,” Maraby said on Joy Sports Link.

“It can be from your phone, from the SD card and mobile money purchase, and then you show the barcode when you get to the stadium, and you enter,” he explained.

Ghana premier league match between Hearts of Oak and Asante Kotoko

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the football governing has had to struggle with ticket sales in the just ended football season. The association in its attempts to restructure the ticketing sales for its competition, per Maraby, is engaging interested partners to roll out the sales digitally.

The FA, will also introduce the new system during the national team matches at a later stage.

Digital ticket service has become increasingly prevalent among sports teams and major leagues across Europe, Asia and the United States. Just recently, German Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and Premier League giants Liverpool announced their intentions to fully switch to digital ticketing at the Allianz Arena and Anfield stadiums respectively, for the 2021-22 season.

With the raging COVID-19 pandemic, digital ticketing promises to be a welcome venture for both the federation and fans alike, since it offers contactless experience and speedy entry at the gates, while also helping to maintain social distancing.

Ghana FA to introduce E-ticketing to GPL next season

Ghana Fans during the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations Finals football match between Guinea Bissau and Ghana at the Suez Stadium, Suez, Egypt on 02 July 2019 ©Gavin Barker/BackpagePix

While e-ticketing also minimizes ticket fraud and saves fans from the hassle of battling ticket scalpers outside stadiums, the search for online tickets can sometimes prove to be elusive for the public depending on the weight of the match at hand. Access to mobile phones, internet connection, privacy of personal data, and hacking can also pose a problem.

For the e-ticketing service to also be successful, it requires education and consistent service to better improve the fan experience.

Maraby, however, sought to quell such fears by reiterating that the kind of format that will be used to provide the service would be based on “the convenience of the product, effectiveness, rates and quality of the service.”

The service will be available for those with both Android and IOS devices.