The Manchester City FC MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard with PayPass has gone live, becoming the first card of its kind in Europe.

The card, which replaces the standard season ticket usually issued to supporters, is being delivered by MBNA, MasterCard and Altair Financial Services International.

"We are delighted to have delivered such an innovative and remarkable payment card program, which is among the most technically advanced in the world today," says Lee Britton, Altair CEO. "The cards make use of EMV functionality, which has never been implemented on a prepaid card program before, enabling the cards to manage their own authorisation activity when used at contactless terminals."

The Manchester City FC MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard, currently on trial with 3,500 season ticket holders, combines for the first time three applications in a single piece of plastic. The card stores membership data and is capable of interfacing contactlessly to the Manchester City Stadium turnstiles to allow entry to home matches, it also supports standard Chip and PIN payments and contactless payments with MasterCard PayPass.

Cardholders can use the new card to enter the stadium and pay for their halftime food and drinks by tapping their card with contactless-enabled merchants. They can also use the cards outside the stadium to make purchases at both chip and PIN and contactless point of sale devices.

"The Manchester City FC MasterCard Prepaid Seasoncard with Paypass is a great innovation in stadium technology, says Brendan Jones, product executive at MBNA. “We believe this concept will work both inside and outside of stadia, and will revolutionise the way people use cash."

Richard Pinnick, head of Global Strategic Projects at Fortress GB, the company responsible for the provision of the application that controls membership and access to the stadium says: "The coexistence of multiple applications, managed by different organisations, on a single MasterCard represents a quantum step forward in thinking for the card industry, simply driven by the needs of the fan. It opens the way to new and innovative card programmes that deliver a multiplicity of functions and services that best fit the lifestyle and environment of the consumer."