A Tsunami of Footballs Hits the Johan Cruijff ArenA

Amid dramatic scenes in Amsterdam, Piing introduced the world’s biggest Penalty Shootout game to a crowd of over 53,000 fans at Ajax's Johan Cruijff ArenA in Amsterdam. The fans absolutely loved it, and the club were thrilled with the positive reception.

Prompted by the matchday announcer, fans scanned the QR codes displayed on the stadium’s screens which opened the game in their phone’s web browser (no app download required). Fans entered their name then chose one of the two teams Team Ajax or Team Ajax Legends to play for.

Once several thousand fans had joined, they were all prompted to choose and submit their shot on their phone. When the big screen countdown hit zero the on-screen striker for Team Ajax Legends started his run-up, got to the ball and kicked every single shot submitted by the first team’s fans simultaneously.

The result was a barrage of thousands of balls hitting the goal keeper, the post and missing the goal altogether with 51% actually hitting the back of the net, setting the first team’s score. This was swiftly followed by the second team’s striker hitting all his team’s balls at the goal, releasing a second football tsunami.

The crowd held their breath as team 2’s score counted up, then reacted with ooh, ahhs and cheers as the screen displayed the result, with 52% of the balls hitting the back of the net this time, meaning Team Ajax had won round one.

The top 3 players’ names, ranked by speed and accuracy, were shown on the stadium big screen and every player’s individual kick was displayed on their phone with their own speed and accuracy ranking.

We made a heap of improvements to this version of the game, including new 3D avatars for the strikers and goalkeepers. Our game CMS allows us to drop in new team kits super quickly to make each game bespoke for each matchday. We can now capture all sorts of player demographic data from a game, as well as giving out prizes to individual winners. The CTA at the end of each game can push fans onto any webpage a sponsor might want to promote.

There was time for two rounds of penalties during halftime, with Team Ajax beating Team Ajax Legends in the second round 62% to 61%, an incredibly close result with the crowd audibly reacting after each tsunami of penalties went in.

Piing Penalty Shootout is designed as a stadium in-bowl experience, with the action happening on the stadium’s big screens. It can also be run anywhere with a big screen and a (very) big crowd.

Got an audience you want to engage and entertain? Piing creates games for crowds of all sizes (not just stadium-sized!). Get in touch to find out more!