FIFA unveils cut-price tickets after backlash over 2026 World Cup pricing

PARIS: FIFA World Cup organisers have unveiled a new cut-price ticket category following a backlash from fans over pricing for the 2026 tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Football’s global governing body FIFA said on Tuesday it had created a limited number of “Supporter Entry Tier” tickets, priced at $60, for all 104 matches of the tournament, including the final. The move was described as an effort to support travelling fans following their national teams.

According to FIFA, the $60 (€51) tickets will be reserved for supporters of teams that qualify for the World Cup and will make up 10 per cent of each national federation’s ticket allocation.

However, fan group Football Supporters Europe (FSE), which last week described ticket prices for the 2026 tournament as “extortionate” and “astronomical”, said the measure did not go far enough.

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

Last week, the group said ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup were nearly five times higher than those at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, calling FIFA’s pricing strategy a “monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup”.

FSE said that a supporter following their team from the opening match to the final would have to spend at least $6,900, adding that FIFA had promised tickets starting from $21 in a bid document released in 2018.

Responding to the new announcement, FSE said FIFA’s partial reversal exposed flaws in how ticket prices had been set.

“For the moment, we are looking at the FIFA announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash,” the group said, adding that the policy appeared rushed and decided without proper consultation.

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The organisation said that, based on available allocations, only a few hundred fans per match and team would benefit from the $60 tickets, while most supporters would still face prices higher than at any previous World Cup. It also criticised the lack of provisions for supporters with disabilities and their companions.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed the criticism, saying the new ticket category did not go far enough to ensure affordability.

“I welcome FIFA’s announcement of some lower priced supporters tickets,” he wrote on X, “but I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so that the World Cup doesn’t lose touch with the genuine supporters who make the game so special.”

FIFA said national federations would be required to allocate the discounted tickets to loyal fans closely connected to their teams. It also said that fans who buy knockout-stage tickets but whose teams are eliminated earlier will have administrative fees waived when refunds are processed.

The announcement comes amid what FIFA described as extraordinary global demand, with around 20 million ticket requests already submitted. The draw for tickets of all price categories in the first round of sales is scheduled for January 13.