Football Legend Peter Schmeichel Just Changed How Europe Pays

The gloves are on as legendary goalie and Mastercard rally consumers for next era of online payments

Mastercard has teamed up with goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel to help accelerate Europe’s shift to Click to Pay, a more secure, faster and simpler way to buy online.

In a new film, the former Man Utd and Denmark keeper encourages European shoppers to embrace the new payment method, where passkeys, biometrics and trusted devices replace passwords and long card numbers.

It comes as Mastercard research reveals German shoppers are digital dynamos, with 9 in 10 (89%) comfortable using modern payment methods when buying online, including 57% favouring digital wallets, the highest in Europe. Sweden leads the way on e-commerce with consumers doing 29% of their spending online, well ahead of the continent’s average of 21%.

Poland and Czechia have Europe’s most safety-conscious shoppers – with four in five using biometrics and other security features such as one-time passcodes and chargebacks. The Dutch, meanwhile, are the great all-rounders, with high online spending and widespread use of modern payment methods.

Mastercard is halfway towards its 2030 goal of phasing out manual card entry online across Europe and moving to payments based around a process called tokenisation. For Click to Pay, this means shoppers will no longer have to enter their 16-digit card number when paying online at participating retailers and these details are no longer shared with merchants. Instead, the transaction will be represented by a secure digital token – meaningless if stolen – and consumer payments can be authorised with a one-time passcode, passkeys or biometrics.

“The future of payments should feel more like a tap‑in, not an overhead kick,” said Peter Schmeichel. “Click to Pay means no more fumbling for cards or mistyping numbers — just a smooth, secure way to buy online.”

Driving the Tokenisation Revolution

Millions of Europeans still type 16‑digit card numbers every day — a slow, error‑prone process. Click to Pay uses a process called tokenisation, which replaces these numbers with secure tokens, making them meaningless to a fraudster if stolen. This not only protects shoppers from scammers but also protects retailers from cyberthreats.

Passkeys take this a step further, letting shoppers authenticate with a fingerprint, face ID or a trusted device — no password required. They streamline checkout and offer stronger protection against fraud, making online payments faster, safer and more seamless.

Brice van de Walle, EVP, Core Payments at Mastercard Europe, said: “Consumers across Europe are beginning to move beyond passwords and card numbers towards faster, more intuitive and more secure ways to pay. Rather than a snapshot, it’s a signal of what’s next, a future where trust is built into the checkout, and paying online feels effortless. Those who move in this direction now will help shape a more seamless digital payments experience for the decade ahead.”

To enjoy a one-click experience, registered Click to Pay users can sign up for payment passkeys on their trusted device(s). To find out more about visit Mastercard’s Click to Pay website

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