Justice minister declares sport ID cards have made football family friendly

Over 100,000 sports fans are now holders of the sports ID card, popularly known as the fan card, according to the Cyprus Sports Organisation (CSO).

The card was introduced in July 2018 and consists of a registry of fans linked to an account that records the purchase of tickets for sporting events.

It was introduced in a bid to cut down on football hooliganism, as entry to a match is no longer allowed without one.

Justice Minister George Savvides called the achievement a huge success and stressed that “the next step is to bring those fans back to the stadiums on a regular basis.”
Speaking at the Ethics Awards ceremony organised by the CSO on Tuesday, Savvides said increased competitiveness in this year’s football championship had resulted in a very substantial surge in the total number of tickets sold, close to 40 per cent more compared to last year.
“The elimination of violence has brought families back to the stadiums, something that makes us very happy,” he said, adding that he hoped all clubs would do their best to bring their fans to the games.

Some football fan association members are still refusing to register for the card.

“We are always ready to exchange views with the fans’ associations as well as with the CSO if they help bringing organised fans back to the games,” Savvides said. “We will discuss any measures and suggestions that may help in good faith.”
According to Savvides, the introduction of the fan card has contributed to creating a sporting product that is attractive to all fans and that fulfils its social role.
He also said that fan card was adopted to fight the manipulation of sporting events and is in line with the relevant EU legislation, which define the manipulation of sporting events as a corruption offence.
“We want football and sports in general to send the right messages to the public, meaning a game is not a war, rather a competition between honest and loyal contenders,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.