Fifa has introduced a small number of “more affordable” $60 (£45) tickets for all 104 matches at the 2026 World Cup following criticism of its pricing structure for the tournament.
World football’s governing body says the new ticket price will be available to a certain number of “loyal fans” of the countries that have qualified for the World Cup.
A Fifa official close to discussions said: “We have listened to feedback and this new category is the right thing to do” – adding the decision was unanimous.Under the previous pricing structure, which the Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) call “scandalous”, it would have cost a fan more than £5,000 to follow England at every match to the final.
The £45 ticket falls in the ‘supporter entry tier’, the lowest priced category, and will make up 10% of the allocation for each football association whose team is taking part in a competition being hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
For England and Scotland, this will mean about 400 tickets will be available for £45 for their group matches.
Tom Greatrex, chair of the FSA, called Tuesday’s announcement a “hollow gesture” adding: “What sounds like a climbdown is a cynical attempt to deflect attention while continuing to rip fans off.”
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) said that while it welcomed “Fifa’s seeming recognition of the damage its original plans were to cause, the revisions do not go far enough to reconcile”.
Meetings took place over the weekend and early this week with senior officials in Doha, Qatar, where initial feedback on pricing was discussed.
Having raised fans’ concerns over the cost of tickets with Fifa’s hierarchy before the meeting in Doha, English Football Association insiders privately see the announcement as a step in the right direction.
“The entry tier tickets will be allocated specifically to supporters of qualified teams, with the selection and distribution process managed individually by the participating member associations (PMAs),” said a Fifa statement.
“Each PMA will define its own eligibility criteria and application process. They are requested to ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams.
“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely supporter value tier (40%) and the supporter entry tier (10%). The remaining allocation is split evenly between the supporter standard tier and the supporter premier tier.”
‘Hollow gesture’ or ‘step in right direction’?
While only around 400 tickets for each of England’s group matches will be priced at the new entry tier price, the FA is encouraged that half of their allocation will now be at what they regard as reasonable levels for a World Cup in the North American market.
FA officials are now said to be working through the night to try to determine how they will decide who gets these tickets and how to reward their most loyal England supporters, with an announcement expected on Wednesday.
“Demand for tickets has been off the scale, more than 20 million requests so far in this latest phase. We have listened to feedback and this new category is the right thing to do,” said a Fifa official close to discussions.
“Making $60 tickets available to more fans, including the most loyal ones who travel, was agreed on unanimously.”
Associations will need to work out who best should receive them.
“It’s a unique tournament and a unique market in the USA, in particular, which allows resales on secondary platforms. The demand is sky high.
“No organisation does more to support the development of the game around the world than Fifa. All 211 associations, including the poorest countries, will benefit from a commercially successful World Cup.”
Prior to this move, the FSE had said it is “astonished” by Fifa’s “extortionate” pricing strategy, and called for ticket sales to be “halted immediately”.
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, group stage fixtures all had set prices of £68.50, £164.50 or £219.
But its pricing policy, revealed on 11 December, indicated that tickets for England v Croatia and Scotland v Brazil next year were going to cost around £198, £373 or £523.
The cost ramped up considerably in the latter stages.
Quarter-final tickets for all teams are £507, £757 and £1,073, with the semi-finals priced at £686, £1,819 and £2,363.
The cheapest tickets for the final are £3,119, seven times more expensive than in Qatar.
There are no concessions for children or other groups for any tickets.
Greatrex added: “A small proportion of an already small allocation being priced reasonably still leaves the vast majority of supporters who would travel to the World Cup unable to afford to do so.”
Around 450 tickets, from an allocation of approximately 4,500, for England group games is literally making a lottery of supporting your team at the finals.
“Having all but killed off the vibrancy, atmosphere and spectacle of the World Cup for travelling supporters, this hollow gesture might buy a few headlines, but it doesn’t address Fifa being complicit in pricing supporters out of the World Cup.”
The FSE also pointed out that there was “still the question of supporters with disabilities as no new pricing structure has been announced for them”.
It added: “For the moment we are looking at the Fifa announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash.
“We call upon Fifa to engage in a proper dialogue to arrive at a solution that respects the contribution of fans and the dignity of fans with disabilities.”
The Football Supporters’ Association’s Fans’ Embassy for England fans described the move as “a step in the right direction” in a post on X.
It added: “Fan pressure has certainly amounted to something but this still feels low, and the majority of tickets are still far too high. This will only benefit 400 to 500 supporters (per match), approximately.”
Source: BBC