Osasuna has claimed a first for LaLiga, the top division of Spanish club football, by announcing that facial recognition technology will be introduced as another entry option at Estadio El Sadar.
The technology, which will be introduced for Sunday’s game against Alavés, has been installed by dasGate. The identity management company signed a sponsorship deal with Osasuna last month, with one of the elements of the contract being helping the Pamplona-based club in its digitisation pathway.
For the Alavés game, and following protocol established by LaLiga, a single turnstile with biometric access will be set up at gate seven of the stadium. Once the success of the implementation has been verified, the technology will gradually be extended to the rest of the stadium gates, but always as a voluntary option for club members.
Osasuna said it is planning a phased development so that at all gates at El Sadar there is at least one turnstile that allows access through facial recognition. Fans will continue to have the option of using their physical members cards, or their digital memberships via their mobile phones, to enter the stadium.
Osasuna said: “With this step, Osasuna is placed, together with dasGate, at the forefront of technology in terms of access to stadiums, allowing its members to choose between various forms of entry and significantly reducing waiting times and queues at the stadium.”
The announcement comes a year on from work being completed on the expansion and renovation of El Sadar. The stadium’s capacity increased to 25,000 spectators from around 18,500 after the project commenced in October 2019.
Image: Osasuna CF (Facebook)
