RWC23: review of a major project with fanxp

As the third-largest global sporting event by total audience, the 2023 Rugby World Cup broke new records, attracting 2.5 million spectators across nine stadiums for 48 matches, alongside hundreds of thousands of fans in celebration zones across France.

An event of this scale required a digital infrastructure to match.

fanxp was selected to play a strategic role in managing ticketing operations and financial flows, providing its dtc solution for back-office ticketing and extent for payment processing and financial flow management.

To meet the demanding requirements of the public tender launched by the RWC 2023 organizing committee to find the most suitable ticketing solutions, fanxp delivered a robust and scalable digital system capable of integrating with a complex technological ecosystem. Thanks to the complementarity of dtc (ticketing management) and extent (payment and accounting integration), fanxp stood out for the functional richness of its offering and its ability to adapt to the constraints of a large-scale project.

Coordination with all stakeholders was also key: the dtc and extent teams were central in collaborating with other digital tools, including front-end platforms, CRM, data platforms, and BI tools.

“In a post-Covid context, where the future of live events was still uncertain, this World Cup represented a turning point. We seized the opportunity to evolve our solutions, strengthen their reliability, and meet the organizing committee’s high standards with rigor, ensuring operational excellence for RWC 2023.”

— Dang Tran, CEO of fanxp

Managing nine stadiums simultaneously, each with distinct technical systems, required high adaptability. fanxp successfully interfaced with these heterogeneous environments while ensuring operational consistency and service continuity, thanks to the robustness and scalability of its solutions.

The teams’ constant availability, real-time incident monitoring, and tool agility ensured operational excellence for every match and in every host venue, from Stade de France to Vélodrome and other major sites. Furthermore, extent played a critical role in managing international payments and second-market seller refunds, streamlining the relationship between ticketing and banking institutions.

“There are two key phases in an event like this: the sales launch, which demands creativity and boldness; and the tournament phase, where stability and precision are paramount. These are two very different mindsets we had to adopt one after the other.”

— Dang Tran, CEO of fanxp

1. Over 3.5 million tickets generated during the tournament
2. More than 560,000 transactions processed
   

With dtc, the organizing committee was able to manage both the primary ticketing and the resale market. Meanwhile, extent ensured cashiering, seller payouts, and accounting integration. Feedback from the GIP (Groupement d’Intérêt Public) confirmed a noticeable reduction in access incidents and improved entry flow for spectators.

Julien Collette served as CEO of the Rugby World Cup 2023 organizing committee from September 2022 to July 2024:

This mission strengthened fanxp’s belief in the need to anticipate every possible contingency in long-planned events. The precision and robustness of its tools, along with the ability to work with a wide range of partners, proved essential.

This project also accelerated product developments, such as post-assignment ticket sales, enabling early sales before final stadium configurations were known.

The seamless integration of cancellation insurance helped boost user confidence while reducing fraud risks. It also led to the development of fanxp’s proprietary cancellation insurance solution, ibxp, designed to integrate into its ecosystem and offer full control over the customer journey.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup marked a major milestone for fanxp. It demonstrated the company’s ability to meet the requirements of the world’s biggest events while supporting all stakeholders over the long term.