FIFA announces $60 World Cup tickets after price backlash

PARIS: World Cup organizers unveiled a new category of discounted tickets on Tuesday after fan backlash over prices for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, said in a statement that it had created a limited number of “Supporter Entry Tiers” set at $60 for all 104 matches, including the final.

It said the scheme was “designed to further support traveling fans who follow their national teams throughout the tournament”.

FIFA said the $60 (€51) tickets would be reserved for fans of the qualifying teams and would make up 10% of each national federation’s allocation.

Fans’ group Football Supporters Europe (FSE), which last week branded the prices “extortionate” and “astronomical”, hit back by saying FIFA was offering too little.

“While we welcome FIFA’s apparent recognition of the damage its original plans were going to cause, the revisions do not go far enough,” FSE said in a statement on Tuesday.

Last week, the FSE said ticket prices were almost five times higher than 2022 in Qatar, describing FIFA’s pricing for 2026 as a “monumental betrayal of World Cup tradition”.

“If a fan followed their team from the first game to the final, it would cost them at least $6,900,” he said at the time, adding that World Cup organizers had promised tickets starting at $21 in a bid document released in 2018.

Appeasement

On Tuesday, the FSE said FIFA’s partial ticketing revealed flaws in the way prices were set for next year’s tournament.

“For now, we view FIFA’s announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global backlash,” FSE said.

“This shows that FIFA’s ticketing policy is ill-defined, decided hastily and without proper consultation — including with FIFA’s member associations.

“Based on what is publicly available, this would mean that at best a few hundred fans per match and team would be lucky enough to benefit from the US$60 prices, while the vast majority would have to pay extortionate prices, far higher than any tournament before.”

The organization also criticized the failure to take action for supporters with disabilities or their partners.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed the FSE, saying FIFA’s cheaper ticket category did not go far enough.

“I welcome FIFA’s announcement of some fan tickets at lower prices,” Starmer wrote on X.

But as someone who used to save up for tickets in England, I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so the World Cup doesn’t lose touch with the genuine fans who make the game so special.”

Announcing the $60 tickets on Tuesday, FIFA said national associations “are called upon to ensure that these tickets are made available specifically to loyal fans who are closely associated with their national teams.”

FIFA also said that if fans bought tickets for matches in the knockout rounds only to find their team eliminated at an earlier stage, “the administrative fee will be deducted when refunds are processed”.

It added that it was making the announcement “amid extraordinary global demand for tickets” with 20 million requests already submitted.

On Tuesday, January 13, the raffle will take place for tickets of all prices in the first round of sales.