Premier League side Brentford FC have taken a stand against counterfeiting by becoming the first club in England to use microchip technology to authenticate match-worn shirts.
Brentford integrated the technology into their shirts for the first time last week, when they hosted Everton at the Gtech Community Stadium in West London on Wednesday, February 26. The microchips provide a “digital guarantee of [shirts’] provenance,” according to an article in The Guardian, “crucial for merchandise often sold for substantial sums at auction.”
The verification technology was developed by Fabricks, a sister company of MatchWornShirt. Brentford and MatchWornShirt announced a multiyear partnership in August 2024 to auction off match-worn and signed shirts.
Before each match, a patch containing a chip is heat-pressed inside the bottom hem of each shirt. The chip then can be scanned using near-field communication — a system similar to those used in contactless debit and credit cards — to receive information about which player wore the shirt in which game.
Proceeds from the match-worn shirt auctions benefit Heart of West London, a charity started by Brentford FC to raise awareness about cardiac health issues and teach crucial lifesaving skills.
“MatchWornShirt are the best in the business at giving fans the chance to own a piece of their club’s history, and now we’re giving the Bees family the opportunity to do the same. The past five years have been some of the most exciting in the club’s history. MatchWornShirt will be an important part of fans creating memories over the next five seasons,” Brentford FC commercial director Fran Jones said in August when the partnership was first announced. “Everyone associated with Brentford understands what Heart of West London means to us. I’m so pleased that this partnership is also going to directly support this initiative and help save more lives.”
Fabricks debuted its authentication technology with French Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain in February 2024, and it’s also being used by three clubs in the Dutch Eredivisie — AZ Alkmaar, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord — and by RSC Anderlecht in the Belgian Pro League.
According to The Guardian, prices fetched by match-worn shirts have risen substantially in recent years as football kits have become popular fashion and collector items. Shirts worn by current Premier League players can sell for £1,000 ($1,270 US) or more.
But this popularity has also led to a surge in counterfeiting. More than £440,000 ($560,000 US) worth of “fake football apparel” was seized by British authorities during the UEFA European championship in 2024. The Guardian also cites a report from Corsearch — a firm that helps companies protect their brands and intellectual property — that says the sale of fake Premier League kits can generate as much as £180 million ($229 million US) each year.
