Football clubs get Philips smart season tickets

FC Cöln has become the latest well-known European football club to provide its fans with smart cards instead of paper tickets.

The cards are based on Mifare technology from Royal Philips Electronics and is already in use elsewhere, such as at Real Madrid and PSV Eindhoven, a Philips-owned Dutch league team.

Markus Luidolt, marketing manager for e-ticketing at Philips Semiconductors, said the Cologne deal depended on a ticketing solution that is reliable, secure and very quick at turnstiles.

It is only initially available for season ticket holders but Philips is working on an ultralight version of its technology that works through a disposable chip within a paper-based ticket - handy for visiting fans or occasional match-goers.

Mifare is already used in many public transport systems around the world and is compatible with Near Field Communications (NFC) a standard developed and owned with Sony. It is thought that through deals with handset makers such as big three Motorola, Samsung and Nokia embedded NFC chips will allow phones to act as travel passes or even season tickets, in the case of football.

Such chip-based solutions are already the basis for some clubs' future CRM plans. English Premier League CEO Richard Scudamore told silicon.com that many clubs here are working on their own smart card season tickets that will - if all things go to plan - mean better informed decisions on issues such as sales, marketing and attendance control.

Some e-ticketing schemes based on RFID chips which don't receive new information have already been rolled out but Philips reckons it has a chance to boss such a smart card market.

It will typically sell to football clubs and other locations through existing IT suppliers such as systems integrators and numerous other channel partners.

FC Cöln's ground, the RheinEnergieStadion, is among 12 that will be used in the 2006 World Cup and after a recent overhaul seats 51,000 fans.