Could you be more specific about what kind of device you want to track or why you'd want to track it? What use would you have tracking a football?

A football is a bad example. Say you wanted to track a toy. And allow for check in's or have your movements tracked?

Checkout passive GPS tracking devices. They record movement, then you can upload the data back into a system via USB. RFID might work if you're tracking movement within a building. If you want to be able to locate or track an item remotely, I believe you would need a device with GPS & wireless data capability.