ST. PETERSBURG, November 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Fan-ID system will be in use during the 2022 UEFA Champions League final match in Saint Petersburg to simplify the country’s border entry procedures for foreign football fans, Alexei Sorokin, the head of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC), said on Wednesday.
"A system for identifying football fans [Fan-ID] will be in use during the Champions League final match in St. Petersburg," Sorokin told journalists. "We are currently finalizing the details."
"It will soon be clear how this system must be eventually operated," he continued. "However, this system will certainly be of great help because we expect numerous foreign fans arriving for the match."
"The priority for ticket distribution will be given to fans of two football clubs [the finalists of the 2021/2022 Champions League]," he added.
Saint Petersburg’s Vice Governor Boris Piotrovsky told journalists that up to 40,000 foreign football fans were expected to visit the country’s second-largest city during the UEFA Champions League final next year.
"The Champions League final coincides with the City Day on May 27," Piotrovsky said. "We have a set of festive events running between May 25 and 30."
"We are now discussing all difficulties and tasks that we are faced with and they include transportation issues as the city will be under a strain," the vice governor stated. "We are expecting about 40,000 foreigners coming from all over the globe."
Piotrovsky also said that the work in regard to a possible utilization of Gazprom Arena’s maximum seating capacity for the Champions League final match was underway.
"We are currently in preparation works for the Champions League final and hope that the stadium will be full at its maximum capacity," he said. "An issue of the arena’s access will be considered separately."
"I am sure that we have ample time to solve all of these issues. We are waiting for guests and will see how everything must be technically realized before the match kicks off," Piotrovsky added.
Russia’s Fan-ID was successfully tested during the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup, as well as during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and earned high marks from the world’s governing football body of FIFA. The Fan-ID system was also in place during matches of the 202 UEFA Euro Cup in St. Petersburg last summer.
A Fan-ID holder was allowed to enter the country without having a Russian visa and stay for the duration of global football tournaments. Fan-IDs were obligatory, in addition to purchased tickets, in order to attend football matches.
In August 2019, the European governing body of football announced the selection of Russia’s St. Petersburg as the venue for the final of the 2021 Champions League at the recently-built football stadium.
However, the date was moved to 2022 due to safety reasons amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus and the match is now slated for May 28, 2022.
The newly-built football arena in St. Petersburg hosted the opening and final matches of the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and also served as one of the 12 stadiums across the country hosting matches of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The over 62,300-seat capacity stadium was laid down in the western part of Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg in 2007 and commissioned in early 2017. It serves as the home stadium for the Zenit St. Petersburg football club.