Fans of one of Europe’s top soccer clubs will be able to use the NFC functionality in their iPhone or Apple Watch to gain admittance to games at the team’s home stadium from 19 December. They will also be able to use Apple Pay to make purchases at kiosks and fan shops throughout the Allianz Arena.

FC Bayern Munich is the first team in Germany’s top-level Bundesliga football league to add support for NFC ticketing on Apple devices, the club says. Last month, Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) in the US added the capability at its Banc of California stadium.

“From now on, every stadium visitor can load his ticket into his Apple Wallet and now only has to hold his iPhone or Apple Watch to the ticket scanner at the arena access gates,” FC Bayern Munich says.

“The smartphone does not have to be switched on or establish an online connection. No app needs to be opened or the device unlocked. All readers at the turnstiles have been equipped with the latest NFC technology in cooperation with Skidata as the technical supplier.”

“Our goal is to handle ticketing digitally and to be able to do without paper tickets in the future,” says Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the club’s CEO.

“In addition to the highest degree of customer friendliness, this measure also makes a valuable contribution to protecting the environment and is thus another step in our sustainability strategy.”

Skidata’s technology lets stadium operators use their in-house system to generate contactless tickets that customers can then add to their Apple Wallet and use on match days to get into the stadium with either their iPhone or their Apple Watch.

“In addition, printed tickets, Print@Home and mobile tickets with QR code can also be used to access the stadium,” FC Bayern Munich says.

Support for Apple Pay at the stadium’s concession stands and fan shops, meanwhile, follows the launch of the NFC payments service in Germany on 11 December and was implemented by HypoVereinsbank.

Mobile vendors offering drinks and snacks at the seat will be able to take NFC payments from next year, the club says.

“Contactless payment will soon be the standard in private payment transactions,” adds HypoVereinsbank’s Dr Michael Diederich. “Long queues for sausages, drinks or fan merchandise is a thing of the past.”

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