Fifa urged to halt World Cup ticket sales after ‘monumental betrayal’ of fans

Fifa has been urged to halt World Cup ticket sales after it emerged countries’ most loyal fans faced paying “extortionate” prices for tickets, with the cheapest for the final coming in at more than £3,000.

The Croatian federation published details of prices in its participant member association (PMA) allocation, designed to be made available to fans who attend the most matches, with tickets at fixed rather than dynamic prices. It listed the cheapest tickets for the final on 19 July as costing $4,185 (£3,120, €3,563).

Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described Fifa’s approach as a “monumental betrayal” of fans. It said based on the information it had available, fans faced paying €6,900 (£6,041, $8,110) to attend every match from the first game to the final via the PMA allocation – five times more than they would have paid to do so at the last finals in Qatar.

“Football Supporters Europe is astonished by the extortionate ticket prices imposed by Fifa on the most dedicated supporters for next year’s World Cup,” a statement said. “This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is.

“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.”

PMA allocations will equate to 8% of a stadium’s capacity for each match. FSE said that rather than adopting a standard price across all group matches, pricing appeared to have been calculated “dependent on vague criteria such as the perceived attractiveness of the fixture”.

The Football Association is expected to confirm pricing details to members of the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) on Thursday and Friday. The England fans’ group Free Lions posted on X to say it backed FSE’s statement, adding that these were “shocking prices, above and beyond the already high costs we suspected”.

It said: “This can’t be allowed to happen. Match-goers across the world deserve protection from these rip-off prices.”

England supporters can expect to pay at least £198 for a ticket to the opening match against Croatia on 17 June, the Croatian FA having informed its supporters that would be the cost of the cheapest tickets in the PMA allocation for that match.

A random selection draw for World Cup tickets was opened by Fifa on Thursday. All fans will be able to go online until 13 January and try to order as many tickets as they would like – also at fixed prices.

Those fans will discover, after the closure of the sale window, how many – if any –tickets they have obtained. Tickets sold in earlier windows have been subject to dynamic pricing. Fifa has been approached for comment.