Access to stadiums through facial biometrics has been a tool used in the search for clubs and authorities to improve the safety of surroundings on game days.
Due to the fights between Sport and Santa Cruz fans through the streets of Recife earlier this month, the court ruled that clubs implement technology for access to stadiums from March.
A few days earlier, in late January, the Fortaleza City Hall had determined the installation of face recognition cameras at Presidente Vargas stadium, after Ceará fans played scenes of violence in the stands.
The General Sport Law requires that, by the middle of the year, stadiums with a capacity of over 20,000 fans implement the model, at risk of punishments for responsible leaders.
In Goiás, the first club in the country to adopt the technology at Hailé Pinheiro stadium for 100% of the public, in mid -2022, the main motivation for the decision was precisely the violence starring the fans, said Paulo Rogério Pinheiro, president of the club between club 2021 and 2023.
“Motivation arose from a report that highlighted violence in and near the stadium, as well as the inefficiency in the application of judicial measures that prohibited the presence of condemned fans in the games, which resulted in the reduction of the average audience and the evasion of the stadium families, “Pinheiro told Sheet.
He said facial recognition has streamlined the process of entry about three times, eliminating the need for physical documents and paper tickets, and prevented access from unauthorized or banished individuals.
“The recognition of up to 20 simultaneous faces per second, inside and outside the game site helped avoid confrontation. Police occurrences inside the stadium have fallen to almost zero, and families returned to the scene,” said Pinheiro.
In 2021, in the year immediately prior to the beginning of facial recognition for access to Hailé Pinheiro, the average audience at the stadium was 1,143 fans.
From 2022, the year in which Goiás returned to play in Serie A of the Brazilian Championship, the average jumped to 7,901, and to 8,664 in 2023. In 2024, with Goiás back to Serie B, the average was 6,348.
“By eliminating fans of factions, convicted and other unauthorized individuals, the tendency is for the average public to increase and the games become more attractive and safe,” said the former president of Goiás.
Marketing Director of the Club, Jessica Rezende stated that there are approximately 215,000 users registered in the emerald recognition system, able to access Hailé Pinheiro, also known as “Serrinha”.
Since the beginning of the operation, about 6,000 people have had their records blocked or canceled because some kind of non -compliance with the stadium guidelines and restrictive measures of the judiciary have been identified.
“Today, we work with a degree of precision of 98%. We work with equipment that has artificial intelligence and is fed with the photos of the fans according to access to the stadium,” said the director.
CCLA Advogados founding partner, Cristiano Calús pointed out that Article 148 of the General Sport Law establishes that the control and inspection of public access to the sports arena with a capacity of over 20,000 people should have a means of image monitoring of image turnstiles and with biometric identification of viewers.
“This is a legal obligation that will come into force on June 15, 2025. Its non-compliance generates the club and its president several disciplinary repercussions and even criminal liability, if the lack of identification of the fan contributes or facilitates to the Practice of some crime committed in the arena, “said Caus.
Among the great of the state, São Paulo and Corinthians do not yet use access via facial recognition in Morumbi and Neo Chemistry Arena, respectively. Clubs reported having plans to adapt to the legislation by June. Palmeiras and Santos began facial recognition operations at Allianz Parque and Vila Belmiro in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
