The paper ticket’s days are numbered after a deal that will allow Fulham fans to enter matches simply by waving their mobile phones at the gate.

The London-based Premier League football club will reveal on Monday a deal with Ticket Text, an Irish start-up that is fighting to make inroads in the primary ticket market dominated by Ticketmaster, the American giant owned by Barry Diller’s InterActive Corp.

Fans will buy Fulham tickets online and will be sent an SMS text message that carries a barcode. When that code is presented at the turnstiles at Craven Cottage, Fulham’s ground, it will be scanned to admit entry. A number will accompany the barcode, which can be entered if the scan fails, but Ticket Text says that the technology is expected to work with more than 90 per cent of handsets. The first match for which mobile tickets will be available is Fulham’s clash with Derby County on October 20. Ticket Text will charge a booking fee.

The company was founded last year and is chaired by Tim Delaney, a former marketing chief for Sony BMG. It has raised about €5 million in first-round funding. It recently forged a deal to supply tickets to Swimming with Sharks, the West End play starring Christian Slater.

The Fulham deal is part of an increasing trend towards consumers using their mobile phones for payments and other transactions. With the mobile now a ubiquitous gadget, companies are increasingly aware of its importance as a marketing, retail and advertising channel.

This week leading airlines agreed on a standard that will allow travellers to check in using a barcode sent to their mobile phones.

Last year HSBC, the banking giant, launched a scheme enabling customers of the bank and its First Direct subsidiary to perform transactions over their handsets. This month another scheme was announced enabling taxi drivers to accept credit cards for payment of fares from customers’ mobile phones.

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