On 13^th July 2018, the newly renovated Generali Arena in Vienna will have its official opening. The date also marks another very important milestone as the venue will also unveil its new payment system.

Upon opening, the Generali Arena, which can hold up to 17,500 visitors, will operate a completely cashless environment which is being launched in cooperation with FK Austria Vienna and official partners SIX Payment Services and Mastercard who have worked very closely with the stadium team to launch this new payment system.

To ensure a completely cashless environment, SIX Payment Services equipped the stadium, including 12 kiosks and a coffee stand, with around 80 POS-terminals, which accept all major debit and credit cards. The terminals will calculate and facilitate the end of the day takings and the kiosk operator will receive the value of their daily turnover at the touch of a button.

Football enthusiasts and guests to the stadium will be able to leave their cash at home as the stadium will operate an entirely cash-free environment. All visitors need to do is simply bring their debit or credit card and leave any worries about having enough cash behind them as they will be able to pay quickly and conveniently by card at all kiosks within the stadium.

The new cashless system reduces queuing times and improves customer service levels for visitors and kiosk operators. Contactless payments can be made even faster, as people can pay “in passing” by simply holding the card to the terminal. For amounts below EUR 25, people do not even need a PIN code to complete their purchase.

The new payment system will mean that fans can collect their refreshments more quickly and return to where the real action is taking place – on the pitch.

No more cash handling

Modern technology means that the often tedious task of handling cash is a thing of the past for both visitors and staff. Gone are the days of searching for cash and having to deal with change handling. Visitors can now pay quickly and securely with the help of staff who are on-hand to ensure that the payment process is dealt with promptly and efficiently.

Rising trend towards cashless at big events

The trend towards major events moving to cash-free is spreading. With the increasing size, scale and professionalism of large venues, the requirements for efficient equipment and smooth transaction handling are increasing. Equipping major events with cashless payment systems is one of the core competencies of SIX in Austria. It is important to provide customers with smooth and efficient services and cashless payment options are an essential part of that offering.

Christian Renk, Managing Director and Head Merchant Services, SIX Payment Services in Austria: “SIX Payment Services is proud to be an official payment partner in the realisation of the new cashless Generali Arena. Equipping a stadium of this size to go cashless was particularly challenging and with up to 17,500 visitors at any given match, it was essential to ensure consistently reliable and secure payment facilities.

Christian Schicker, Director of Business Development at Mastercard Austria explains: “We are very excited to cooperate with FK Austria Vienna on bringing this innovative payment solution to life.  Together, we are already thinking about potential future projects, for example  an Austria Vienna Mastercard co-branded card with special benefits for fans, branded key rings orwatches which allow fans to make payments, or the integration of Mastercard cards into the Austria-Vienna-App to allow  mobile payments in the stadium.”

Markus Kraetschmer, AG CEO said: “The top priority for us has always been to implement the most fan-friendly payment facilities. It is crucial that Austria fans can pay at the stadium kiosks using their contactless debit or credit card and transactions are fast, easy and secure. Thanks to the great cooperation with Mastercard and SIX Payment Services, we can guarantee that visitors will have shorter queuing times at the kiosks within the Generali Arena. In addition we also operate to the very highest standards in relation to food preparation and hygiene.”