Chelsea and Stamford Bridge Embrace Cashless With Clover

There have been some massive transfers involving Chelsea in recent years, with top players like Romelu Lukaku joining the squad. Plenty of speculation also tends to emerge about who could arrive next, with the rumour mill very rarely showing signs of slowing down.

However, it is worth remembering that there is always plenty of other work going on behind the scenes at the club. For instance, one notable development has transformed the way that fans can pay for items when they visit Stamford Bridge.

Last month, it was confirmed that the Clover platform from Fiserv has been deployed across the stadium, with more than 200 point-of-sale devices and handheld Flex systems being introduced.

But what does this mean? Well, the hope is that fans can enjoy a cashless payments experience and make contact-free purchases for food and drink, as well as programmes, museum entry and tours of the stadium. The press release outlines how customers will be able to pay using debit card, credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay, while they will also have the chance to get digital receipts.

The use of Clover brings Stamford Bridge in line with many other major venues across the globe, including Citi Field in New York, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and Clover Park in Florida.

The introduction of the system is perhaps understandable considering how the world of payments has changed in the past few years. Many consumers are embracing different ways to pay and a host of sectors have recognised this too.

For example, Apple outlines how its Apple Pay service is accepted in many places these days, including supermarkets and train stations. Staying with travel for a moment, it adds that it functions across all of the Transport for London network. The official Google Pay site also highlights how that service can be used with a number of different brands, while PayPal has become a prominent payment method in recent years too. The latter has particularly been embraced in the iGaming world, as the service offers instant deposits and withdrawals, while bookmakers do not tend to charge fees for its use. That way, PayPal betting has become common in countries like Australia.

In addition, research has suggested that many people have been embracing the cashless concept in recent months. The 2021 Payment Markets Report from UK Finance revealed that cash payments in the UK fell by 35 per cent in 2020. In addition, contactless payments accounted for 27 per cent of all UK payments.

The way that we pay for goods and services has clearly changed in recent years, with the idea of going cashless becoming more and more common in many different circles. As such, it makes sense to see a club like Chelsea embrace the concept through its partnership with Fiserv.

It will be interesting to see how the Clover platform performs at Stamford Bridge across the rest of the season, as well as whether it changes the way that Chelsea fans ultimately choose to pay for everything from drinks to programmes.