Men's European Handball Championship EURO 2004

The 6th European Handball Championship EURO 2004 was one of the biggest Slovenian sporting events in recent years.

Event information

dates: 22 Jan 2004 – 01 Feb 2004
four venues: Ljubljana, Celje, Koper, Velenje
17.000 seats available for each day of the event
15 box offices for ticket sales throughout Slovenia
21 access control units in four halls, connected into one integrated system
six accreditation centres
four press centres
80.000 tickets sold
4.500 accreditations issued
ticket sales in real time via Mojekarte distribution net (350 points of sale) and via Internet (www.mojekarte.si)

»That was the best EC ever.«
Staffan Holmqvist, President of EHF

Our company, Programski atelje a&z d.o.o., provided:

ticket sales and pre-sales systems
wide distribution net throughout Slovenia, with online Internet sales (on www.mojekarte.si and organiser’s official page on www.euro2004.si)
accreditation centres
access control
communications Internet infrastructure
advisory services on logistics and ticketing for large sporting events

»Even as we began the opening games of the official segment of EURO 2004, we were able to conclude that the DRAGON Ticketing integrated information system had decisively contributed to the high level of organisation at the event, enhanced safety for patrons, and freer movement and access for media activities. The entire performance quite impressed a number of distinguished guests from international sporting organisations, as well as the press; the overall consensus was that the event ‘raised the bar’ and created a new standard for the organisation of international handball events.«
Leopold Kalin, Event Director

Ticketing with the integrated access control system

Ticket sales and pre-sales for EURO 2004 matches, as well as the access control, were based on DRAGON Venue Sports Edition and DRAGON Venue Access Control. These products represent two of today’s leading solutions in the European ticketing industry. The entire system operates in real time and enables simultaneous ticket merchandising by any number of vendors, issuing accreditation at any number of accreditation centres, and maintaining access control of entries and exits through any number of access control units.

Real-time sale means that a ticket for any event can be purchased at any time at any point of sale. The DRAGON Ticketing solution supports very high selling speeds - up to more than 20 tickets per minute at each box office - and guarantees stable performance even under exceptional circumstances, such as when the demand for tickets exceeds the organisers’ expectations.

For EURO 2004, the DRAGON Venue Access Control solution guaranteed real-time, full control of accreditations and tickets in all categories, enabled optimum access for spectators, and prevented any abuse of tickets and accreditations.
The system has been designed to be fully compliant with international standards introduced by the World Football Federation (FIFA) several years ago.

Our integrated solution provided EURO 2004 visitors with the highest level of security, while allowing an easy flow to and from multiple venues. And at every moment, organisers could accurately monitor the status of all event activities - from box-office numbers to turnstile counts.

Complete reports

The event organiser enjoyed round-the-clock access to sales figures and free seating capacities at the venues via Internet, mobile phone and SMS.

Accreditations

During preparations for the championship, the solution enabled submission, validation and management of accreditation requests through interactive web services. Throughout the championship competition, DRAGON Ticketing guaranteed simultaneous processing of accreditations at the Slovenian Handball Federation headquarters as well as accreditation centres at each of the four venues. Processing went rapidly - one minute per person, including the time to capture an ID photo.

From start to finish, the accreditations process was seamlessly integrated and networked with the automatic access control system.

Press centre

The press centre was equipped with all necessary communications equipment to support the smooth operation of media activities. Throughout the championship, technical experts were on hand to support full network connectivity and address any issues that might have arisen. Our company was gratified to receive so many favourable comments regarding the equipment provided and how efficiently the press centre operated.

Information platform

The information platform was designed and constructed on the basis of HP server systems and the Linux operating system, integrated into highly reliable clusters. Communication between remote locations ran through VPN connections on the public Internet.

DRAGON Venue Sports edition

Thanks to the DRAGON Ticketing information system for large sporting events, EURO 2004 experienced fluid ticketing operations that were completely transparent to spectators, participants and other attendees. From the beginning, visitors were quite taken by surprise to be using these new technologies in access control - this was truly a novelty in Slovenia for that type of event. Organisers look to these results as a major indicator of success in building profits and stronger customer relationships.

»Our company, Programski atelje A&Z, readily accepted the challenge of this project; we were quite certain that our top-level know-how, the DRAGON Ticketing platform and our considerable experience would give us the edge in successfully managing an endeavour of this scale. We were right. The EURO 2004 engagement proved that our company is one of the premier ticketing partners in the Adriatic region - and even beyond.«
Zoran Bistrički, Manager, Programski atelje A&Z d.o.o.