German top-flight football club 1. FC Kaiserslautern conducted a successful trial of the European Payments Initiative‘s (EPI) Wero payments system over Christmas.
An integration was conducted on the Bundesliga club’s website, in coordination with its payments acquirer VR Payments and online banking app VR Bank, subsidiaries of Germany’s second largest bank DZ Bank.
Several transactions were carried out on the 1. FC Kaiserslautern website between November and December, though it is unclear whether payments were made for tickets, merchandise, or other services.
The EPI is a pan-European payments initiative which has been targeting the launch of an unified payments method for some time, though plans were temporarily halted in 2022.
Wero is the result of the scheme’s unified payments plans, and the EPI intends to carry out a nationwide launch across Germany in summer 2025 after trials over the first half of the year.
“Ever since the beginning of the Wero launch discussions, we were convinced we wanted to try it out,” said Thomas Hengen, CEO, 1. FC Kaiserslautern. “Even though we are a German football club, we have supporters in various countries across Europe and have so far been constrained in the payment options we could adopt.
“Wero offers us and our clients a seamless experience, while being easy to implement, and it is competitive with regards to other options on the market. It is also European, which for a European football club is a key asset.
“We are proud to have carried out the first Wero e-commerce transaction together with our house bank, VR Bank Südliche Weinstraße-Wasgau eG, and its payment transaction specialists.”
Payments are a key but often overlooked aspect of the sports ecosystem. Payments are a key point of the KYC journey sports fans have with the clubs they follow, and sports represents a key commercial opportunity for payments firms.
The likes of Visa, one of the biggest global payments processors and one of the firm’s EPI is hoping to compete with via its Wero service, is a key sports partner, for example. The company partnered with prominent sports media business DAZN during this year’s Euros, for example.
As the EPI’s expansion plans for Wero roll out over the coming months following the proof-of-concept test with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, the platform may be offered to various other sports stakeholders.
“I would like to heartfully thank DZ BANK’s subsidiary, VR Payment, Atruvia and the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken involved, as well as the 1. FC Kaiserslautern teams for their involvement in this POC,” said Martina Weimert, CEO of EPI.
“Without their commitment, this success would not have been possible. Now we are entering the next phase and preparing for the broad introduction in the coming months.”
