Spanish football team Real Sociedad is to include NFC tags in its 2020/21 season supporter shirts “to open up new sponsorship opportunities by connecting fans with partner brands”.

“The pilot, officially launched in January, forms part of a new strategy that allows supporters to redeem discounts for food and beverage purchases at the La Liga side’s Reale Arena stadium by scanning an on-shirt ‘smart tag’ via the club’s mobile app,” SportsProMedia reports.

“The innovation is designed to open up new sponsorship opportunities by connecting fans with partner brands, via their user data stored on the club’s digital database.”

“The objective is to change, a little bit, the sponsorship model connected with the kit,” Juan Iraola, the club’s head of digital transformation and innovation, told the publication.

Real Sociedad is also seeking to add value to the official kit “to motivate fans to buy them and wear them during the match,” Iraola added.

The move to add NFC tags to its shirts follows an earlier release of NFC-enabled football scarves that let fans “win prizes, VIP experiences or receive real-time discounts throughout the matchday”.

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