PSV

PSV Eindhoven is a football club that is home to one of the leading football teams in The Netherlands. Their stadium, the Philips Stadium, offers seating capacity for up to 35,000 fans. PSV, the successful company that manages the stadium has been active in hospitality since 1913. It runs two other sites and employs over 180 people. PSV’s stadiums are not only used for football matches, but also for hosting all kinds of events like concerts, parties and other social events.

Pre-existing situation & UTCFS’s role

During the height of the football season, PSV Eindhoven manages crowds of about 33,000 people and facilitates fan entry via 36 entrances, all taking place within one hour, with safety as their top priority. Conflicts between rival fans could put the spectators, players and property at risk. Therefore, PSV decided to increase its control by integrating a new public system with its existing internal system.

UTCFS’s solution

UTCFS supplied the ideal solution and today all season ticket holders carry smartcards, which are used for payment and operate similar to loyalty cards. Based on the Picture Perfect access control system, UTCFS’s smartcard technology gives spectators access to their allocated seating areas only, while also archiving a record of their behaviour. At the turnstiles, readers with category displays allow the stewards to identify potential troublemakers and deny them entry, if deemed necessary. The system can also read bar-coded cards and tickets from fans supporting the opposing team, restricting them to special dedicated areas of the stadium to avoid potential clashes between rival supporters. Approximately seven people pass through each turnstile per minute. Subsequently this efficient system allows 33,000 supporters to enter and exit the stadium within one hour.