Aberdeen FC has a long history of innovation, from Donald Colman pioneering the dugout to Pittodrie becoming the first all seated all covered stadium in the UK in 1978.

The club has now continued that trend working alongside Fortress and Apple to become just the 2nd stadium in the UK (after Wembley) to support mobile ticketing using NFC (Near field communication) technology.

The Dons became the first club in the UK to utilise the technology with a successful trial for season ticket holders in the Richard Donald Stand taking place at recent matches against St Johnstone and Livingston at Pittodrie.

The trial offered Dons supporters the convenience of simply adding their season ticket to their Apple Wallet before tapping their iPhone or Apple Watch to get into the stadium.

Over 500 season ticket holders now have the capability to access the stadium using NFC technology through their mobile phone and the plan is to support usage for season ticket holders in the whole stadium before the end of the 2018/19 season.

From there the club will look to open the option up to single match buyers making it easier than ever before to select your seat and gain access to the stadium for a match at Pittodrie.

When asked about the latest development Lee Forsyth, IT Support Analyst at AFC said, “We’ve wanted to implement mobile ticketing at Pittodrie for a while now, but we were waiting for the NFC functionality as it provides some clear benefits over barcoded mobile tickets.

“It’s great to see positive feedback from the fans and we look forward to rolling out the solution further over the coming months. It’s a significant development and something we want to build on as we look to enhance the experience of supporters while we remain at Pittodrie, ahead of the move to the new stadium where we will have even more opportunities.”

Apple Wallet has been around since 2012 and has supported mobile tickets using barcodes since then but only recently has it allowed developers to use the NFC chip in the iPhone to provide access as opposed to using a barcode which can be less reliable.

At the moment the technology is only supported via Apple Wallet but plans are in place to introduce support for Google Pay Wallet soon which will make this an option for all supporters in possession of a smartphone.