Barça's e-ticket system under scrutiny after Camp Nou ticketing chaos

During the recent home match against Alavés, the second official game at the new Camp Nou, a major incident with the e-ticketing system left thousands of fans unable to enter the stadium until well after the match had begun. 

The issue stemmed from a crash in the club’s new ticketing app, which has been gradually rolled out over recent seasons.

According to the club, the system crashed because it "was not yet fully optimized" to handle the high volume of requests.

Currently, there are two ways to download tickets: as a PDF file or through the e-ticket app, which provides a QR code. 

The club claims that, compared with recent matches, a larger number of members, which tend to use the PDF method, switched to the e-ticket app, and that their behavior differed from previous games. 

"User behavior can't truly be simulated, it's unpredictable. The Olympic Stadium is farther from the city than Camp Nou, so fans tended to download tickets earlier there," said the club's head of technology, Miriam Ferrando, during a press conference on Wednesday. 

The club ruled out any cyber attack and confirmed that the system began experiencing stress at 12.30 pm, several hours before the 4.15 pm kickoff.

"Requests kept coming, and it collapsed. It's designed for high peaks, but it wasn't yet 100% optimized. Now it is," she added. 

Barça assured that the system is now ready to handle the current capacity and more, as the stadium awaits city council approval to increase capacity from 45,000 to 65,000 spectators, expected by the end of the year.

Without assigning blame, the club said it is satisfied with its three service providers -SlashMobility, T-Systems, and Devoteam Spain- and vowed to continue working with them.

Club rejects comeback of physical tickets 

When the incident occurred, many called for the return of physical membership cards, but the club insists those days are over.

"We are fully committed to eliminating all forms of physical access. Everything will be managed digitally," the club's CEO Manel Del Río confirmed on Wednesday. 

"The PDF method is mainly intended for members, while the QR code is for non-members who purchase individual tickets," explained Del Río.

This strategy is one of the club’s key measures to eradicate uncontrolled ticket reselling at inflated prices. "E-tickets are the way to eliminate fraud," he added. 

However, the e-ticket system requires major technological adaptation, because it only generates the QR code shortly before the match. 

"If fans could download their tickets earlier, traffic peaks would be more manageable," he admitted. "But we use these systems specifically to prevent fraud." 

Identity checks increased 

In theory, a system like this should prevent scenes like those witnessed during Eintracht Frankfurt’s last visit to Camp Nou. 

On April 14, 2022, much of the stadium turned white with Frankfurt supporters who had acquired tickets through members reselling them. 

"It's a complicated match, given our past experience with them," Del Río admitted.  

The club will increase identity checks on matchday to avoid a repeat of the situation, when 30,000 Eintracht fans managed to enter Camp Nou.