Fan group calls for ‘immediate halt’ to World Cup ticket sales

Fans’ group Football Supporters Europe (FSE) called on Thursday for FIFA to stop the sale of tickets for next year’s World Cup due to their “extortionate” cost.

According to FSE, the tickets for the competition in the United States, Canada and Mexico, running between June 11 and July 19, will cost almost five times more than the 2022 edition in Qatar.

“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,” umbrella lobby group FSE said.

It said that tickets allocated to national associations – typically distributed through official supporters’ groups or loyalty programmes to their most dedicated fans – were 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… it would cost them a minimum of $6,900.

“We call on FIFA to immediately halt 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.”

FSE claimed World Cup organisers had promised much cheaper costs for the tournament, pointing to tickets priced from $21 in a bid document released in 2018.

“Where are these tickets now?” it asked.

“The full way to the final, according to the same bid book, was supposed to cost $2,242 in the cheapest category. This promise is long gone.”