Football clubs Bolton Wanderers and PSV Eindhoven have initiated a smartcard scheme to increase sales and cut down on ticket fraud.

Officials from the German 2006 Fifa World Cup and Chinese 2008 Olympics are also planning to introduce radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and multi-application cards.

The TeamCards issued to Bolton Wanderers' season ticket holders will give more fans a chance to see football matches.

"About five to eight per cent of season ticket holders cannot attend [some] matches," said Gareth Moores, commercial director at Bolton Wanderers.

"The TeamCard allows us to buy back individual games and sell them on to other fans on match day."

Season ticket holders unable to attend will have £10 worth of points loaded onto their TeamCard, which can be spent at the club's merchandise shop or on refreshments in the grounds.

The club estimates that it can make an additional £15 profit on each ticket traded in.

TeamCards are also helping the club increase speed of entry into its Reebok Stadium, as well as improve health and safety by registering visitors.

"It also cuts down on fraud," said Moores. "Previously if a season ticket was lost or stolen we did not know whether it was being reused. Now we can cancel the card electronically and issue a new one."

Dutch club PSV Eindhoven has also issued smart cards to its 28,000 season ticket holders to control access to the stadium.

The multi-application MifareProX Philips cards, which contain RFID tags, will allow PSV to add extra services including parking and food payment.

"With the successful introduction of the MifrareProX card this season, we are aiming for a completely cashless stadium by the end of 2004," said Hans van Raaij, IT manager at PSV Eindhoven.

German World Cup 2006 officials said that they would be using RFID tagging on tickets to speed entry to games and cut down on counterfeiting.

The tickets will include match and seating data, but officials would not say whether they intend to record personal information on the ticket owners.

Philips is currently piloting the scheme, but Fifa 2006 explained that the full implementation would need to be put out to competitive tender.

"Trials have shown that, after a little bit of initial confusion, fans are finding it very easy to use," said Mario Rivas, executive vice president at Philips Semiconductors.

Organisers of the Olympics are piloting Philips smart tickets to combine entry to the games along with the ability to pay for public transport, parking, merchandising and food.