Pinkers connects matchday participation, digital engagement and card-linked spending in one fan rewards programme, creating more ways for supporters to earn and more opportunities for Palermo to deepen the fan relationship.

PALERMO, Italy, Oct. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Palermo FC and SmartMedia Technologies (SMT) launched Pinkers, a new football fan engagement and rewards programme that recognises supporters across the many ways they participate in, interact with and support the club.

Pinkers is built on a broader idea of fandom: supporting a club is a living, year-round relationship. Fans show their loyalty through the matches they attend, the content they engage with, the activities they take part in, the friends they bring into the community and the purchases they make. Pinkers is designed to recognise more of those behaviours within one connected experience.

How Fans Earn

Supporters earn points across the season through:

• Participation – attending matches and checking in on matchday, plus polls, predictions, trivia, games and other club activities. Many require no purchase; taking part is enough.
• Card linked local spend – fans link an eligible debit or credit card once, then automatically earn points on qualifying purchases with participating merchants, in-store or online.
• Referrals – invite friends and earn bonus points for each supporter who joins.

How Fans Redeem

Points can unlock rewards designed to bring supporters closer to Palermo, from match tickets and merchandise to signed memorabilia, exclusive access and money-can’t-buy experiences involving the club, its players and the Renzo Barbera stadium.

Built To Grow: From Local Merchants To A Global Ecosystem

Pinkers is designed to extend the rewards relationship beyond the club’s own channels. Through card linking and participating merchants, supporters can earn through eligible everyday spending as well as direct engagement with Palermo.

As the programme develops, Palermo and SMT plan to expand the partner ecosystem across local, regional and international brands, creating more opportunities for fans to earn in their everyday lives and connect that activity back to their club.

What it means

For fans, Pinkers means more ways to be recognised for how they already support Palermo – and more rewards, access and experiences in return, whether or not they can make it to the stadium.

For the club, it creates a continuous, season-long relationship and a far richer understanding of how different supporters follow and experience Palermo – insight the club can use to serve fans better, with more relevant experiences and rewards.

For partners and sponsors, Pinkers creates a new activation layer around fan behaviour. Brands can become part of how supporters earn and engage, creating opportunities to connect sponsorship and commerce to measurable fan participation rather than relying only on exposure.

“The relationship between Palermo and its supporters has always felt like a family bond, even thousands of miles away, anywhere in the world”, said Gaetano Lombardo, CMO and CCO of Palermo FC. “With Pinkers, we wanted to give this family a name and create a platform that brings us all closer together: supporters to one another, and each of them to the Club. Being part of a family means doing things together and sharing emotions. That’s why we want to reward those who get involved and live their passion to the fullest, with benefits and experiences designed especially for them. It’s an innovation that will change the way we connect with the Club we love, every single day.”

“Most loyalty programmes are designed around the transaction. Sports fans create value in many more ways than that,” said Tyler Moebius, CEO of SmartMedia Technologies. “They attend, watch, participate, play, share and spend, and they keep coming back. Pinkers brings those behaviours into one connected experience, giving Palermo more ways to recognise its fans and creating an ecosystem where engagement and everyday commerce can both make fandom more rewarding.”

The programme is powered by SMT, which built the technology and engagement infrastructure connecting fan activity across physical and digital touchpoints into a single loyalty experience.

Availability

Pinkers goes live on 8 October 2026, with additional activities, challenges, rewards, experiences, and partners introduced throughout the season. Supporters who sign up for Pinkers by 31 October will receive an exclusive Founding Member digital collectible badge, unlocking access to exclusive Founding Member rewards in the future.

About Palermo FC
Palermo Football Club has represented the city of Palermo since 1900, a city of over one million people with a history spanning thousands of years. It’s one of Italy’s oldest football clubs, founded 125 years ago thanks to British influence. With its iconic pink shirt, Palermo has competed at the highest levels of Italian football and taken part in international competitions over the years. Champions such as Luca Toni, Edinson Cavani, Paulo Dybala, Javier Pastore and many others have all worn the Palermo shirt. Since 2022, Palermo has been part of City Football Group, the world’s leading private owner and operator of football clubs, with full or partial ownership of 13 clubs around the world. Palermo’s fanbase is regarded as one of the largest and most passionate in Italian football, with a significant community of supporters around the world.

About SmartMedia Technologies (SMT)
Smart Media Technologies (SMT) provides fan engagement and loyalty technology that helps sports organisations recognise and reward a broader range of fan behaviour across physical, digital and commercial touchpoints. SMT connects activities including attendance, participation, games, referrals and spending within a single fan experience, helping rights holders build deeper first-party relationships and create new engagement and commercial opportunities.

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SOURCE SmartMedia Technologies