In this paper we put forward a high-performance biometric fingerprint authentication algorithm for Match-On-Card (MOC) applications, compatible with the INCITS 378 and ISO/IEC 19794 standard. An efficient hardware implementation is proposed to adapt the algorithm for constrained embedded systems as smart cards. Time and memory complexities are reduced such that both integration and real time matching-on-card can be met. The proposed architecture drops the required memory to 0.05% of the initial complexity, without any performance degradation. Therefore, the proposed solution is sufficient to meet the high level of security and the low computation time required in demanding authentication systems ({e.g} airports, electronic commerce and banking transactions).