Italy’s top professional soccer (also known as football) league will introduce facial recognition in all stadiums to enforce the banning of fans who violate league rules, the league’s chief executive has announced.
Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo said in an interview reported by The Stadium Business that the league is implementing video surveillance systems at stadium entrances to identify fans who violate racial discrimination rules. He said he plans to connect it to a facial recognition system. The comments followed the announcement of sanctions against Udinese and one of its fans after a visiting player was subjected to severe racial abuse from the stands.
The plan is for data to be collected by clubs but shared with police if deemed necessary.
Facial recognition could be introduced by the end of the season, and DeSiervo said the league has already completed a feasibility study.
Stadiums in Serie A have previously introduced facial recognition, including Udinese’s Brunagy Stadium, which trialled the technology at the 2019 UEFA Under-21 European Championship final.
It remains to be seen how this plan will align with GDPR and AI legislation.
Spain’s data protection authority AEPD has questioned the proportionality and process behind La Liga’s plans to introduce facial biometrics in stadiums to improve fan safety.
Players appear to support the use of facial recognition to deal with violence at stadiums.
As explained in a recent webinar hosted by Veridas representatives (available on demand with free registration), fan access control is just one potential application for facial recognition in stadiums. Biometrics update. The discussion also touched on privacy and data security considerations, as well as fan perceptions of facial recognition.
Biometrics is changing the fan experience at stadiums and other locations
Article topics
Access Control | Biometrics | Biometrics | Facial Recognition | Italy | Video Surveillance