FURIOUS football fans have called for the immediate halt to 2026 World Cup ticket sales over “extortionate” prices.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) put Fifa on full blast and described their costs as a “monumental betrayal” of fans.
The FSE shared figures showing that prices have risen by a staggering 370 per cent compared to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The same stats show that a fan planning to follow his national team throughout the entire tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico would have to splash a minimum total of £5,141.8, compared to £1,095.4 four years ago.
That does not include the travel cost and the rising prices fans would face in America under Donald Trump‘s controversial and turbulent presidency.
Supporters would have to cough up a total of £436 to follow their team throughout the entire group stage, which is significantly higher than Qatar’s £154 where a single game in the first round cost a mere £51.4.
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The newly-introduced Round of 32 is expected to cost fans £175.1 this summer.
Then supporters would have to pay £219.8 in the Round of 16, £506.7 in the quarter-finals and £685.6 in the semi-finals – up from £71.5, £153.5 and £266 respectively four years ago.
And the final, which could see England competing in it, is expected to cost fans a staggering £3,118.6 – a whopping 593 per cent rise compared to £450.1, which was the cost in Qatar.
The FSE issued a damning statement addressed to Fifa and its president Gianni Infantino.
FSE issued the following statement: “Football Supporters Europe is astonished by the extortionate ticket prices imposed by FIFA on the most dedicated supporters for next year’s FIFA World Cup.
“In the price tables gradually and confidentially released by FIFA, tickets allocated to National Associations (PMA – Participating Member Association allocation), which typically distribute them via official supporters’ groups or loyalty programmes to their most devoted fans, are reaching astronomical levels.
“Based on the information currently available to FSE, if a supporter were to follow their team from the first match to the final through a PMA allocation, it would cost them a minimum of 6900 USD – nearly five times as much as during the FIFA WC 2022 in Qatar.
“National team supporters are expected to pay this full amount in early 2026 to have the opportunity to follow their team up to the final.
“Adding insult to injury, the lowest price category will not be available to the most dedicated supporters through their National Associations, as FIFA chose to reserve the scarce number of category 4 tickets to the general sales, subject to dynamic ticket pricing.
“This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is.
“For the first time in World Cup history, no consistent price will be offered across all group stage games. Instead, FIFA is introducing a variable pricing policy dependent on vague criteria such as the perceived attractiveness of the fixture.
“Fans of different national teams will therefore have to pay different prices for the same category at the same stage of the tournament, without any transparency on the pricing structure enforced by FIFA.
“The bid document released in 2018 promised tickets priced as low as 21 USD. Where are these tickets now? The full way to the final, according to the same bid book, was supposed to cost 2242 USD in the cheapest category. This promise is long gone.
“We call on FIFA to immediately halt PMA ticket sales, engage in a consultation with all impacted parties, and review ticket prices and category distribution until a solution that respects the tradition, universality, and cultural significance of the World Cup is found.”
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