Hungarian Football Federation abolishes obligatory use of supporter card

The Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) does not prescribe the use of supporter card in the next season. The federation makes it the competence of each football club to decide whether they require their fans to possess a card to enter their stadiums, nemzetisport.hu reported.

On 30 June, the 2014-15 football season officially ended, and MLSZ held a meeting before the next season, where they discussed the question of supporter cards.

“The steadily improving infrastructural background, the economically and professionally strengthened environment, the new financial support schemes, and the positive change experienced in order have convinced us to reconsider our standpoint that we have had concerning the obligatory use of the card,” MLSZ Chairman Sándor Csányi told mlsz.hu.

In practice, this means that from the next season, it is the role of each football club to decide whether they prescribe the use of the supporter card for their fans or not. The football federation also decided not to require supporters to possess a supporter card to be able to enter the national team’s matches either.

According to the chairman, the federation introduced the cashless payment system, among other things, to foster the establishment of a different kind of consumer culture in Hungary. We have created a central ticketing system through which fans could purchase their tickets in a standardised manner. More and more people buy their tickets online, and some 200 000 supporters decided to take out the supporter card, which proves that the system does work.