Facial Biometrics Made Obligatory for Entry to Major Stadiums Across Brazil

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The requirement is set out in Article 148 of the General Sports Law, originally published on June 14, 2023, which reads: 

Control and monitoring of public access to sports arenas with a capacity for more than 20,000 (twenty thousand) people must have a means of turnstile image monitoring and biometric identification of spectators, as well as a technical information center with sufficient infrastructure to enable image monitoring of the public present and biometric registration of spectators… The provisions of the heading of this article must be implemented within a maximum of 2 (two) years from the entry into force of this Law.

The law means traditional ticketing options, such as printed tickets, will no longer be a valid means of entering major stadiums across the country. Instead, spectators must be identified by their facial biometrics via cameras mounted at stadium turnstiles linked to an information center.

According to Bepass CEO Ricardo Cadar, the technology has doubled per-person access speed, enabling roughly 25 entries per minute—three times the rate of traditional methods. Bepass is a key provider of facial biometric tools in this initiative and has implemented systems in stadiums including Allianz Parque, Maracanã, and Neo Química Arena, facilitating over five million entries across 212 matches. 
Systems can also be integrated with public security databases, such as the Ministry of Justice and Public Security’s Cortex, in a bid to strengthen stadium security. In São Paulo’s Allianz Parque, for example, the security system detected 220 individuals with outstanding warrants, leading to their arrests. The law also hopes to combat counterfeiting and scalping as biometric validation ties each ticket to its registered holder.

Brazil is among the first countries to mandate facial recognition for entry to stadiums by law. However, many football clubs around the world have explored or have implemented face ticketing, including River Plate in Buenos Aires.