FIFA, the organizer of the 2018 Football World Cup, has a major task to block the fake tickets during the one-month sporting event.
The organizers of the largest sporting program has already selected HID Global to deliver 3 million RFID tickets for the 64 matches of the 2018 World Cup being held in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018.
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, HID Global is the “official ticket producer” for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
FIFA has already issued warnings against fake tickets to fans of the football tournament that will select the best football nation. FIFA will authorise only tickets booked from its official channels.
FIFA is issuing FIFA World Cup smart ticket that contains a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) inlay. FIFA is manufacturing the tickets with special security papers. The new tickets come with several security features designed to prevent counterfeiting and forgery. Data that is stored in a ticket’s RFID chip is encrypted and digitally signed.
Stefan Widing, president and CEO of HID Global, said: “We’re confident that this RFID solution, along with the other advanced ticket security features, will give FIFA and attendees an extra level of security and a better overall FIFA World Cup experience.”
RFID differs from traditional barcoded tickets, which can more easily be counterfeited. RFID transmits the unique identity of a ticket and ticket holder via radio waves. Unlike barcode readers, RFID scanners do not need a line of sight with the RFID chips.
This means attendees can simply tap their tickets to a reader to validate them and gain access to an event, speeding up admissions dramatically in high-volume events such as World Cup matches.
HID Global has provided pre-personalization, fulfillment, consignment and delivery services for the secure tickets, in addition to the development of middleware and a key management system dedicated to the event cycle, including the libraries for the access control device key management.