FIFA urged to halt World Cup ticket sales over ‘betrayal’ of fans pricing plan

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 over £3,000.

The Croatian federation published details of prices in its participant member association (PMA) allocation, which is designed to be made available to fans who attend the most matches, with tickets at fixed rather than dynamic prices.

However, the Croatian FA listed the cheapest tickets for the final on July 19 as costing 4,185 US dollars (£3,120) each.

Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described FIFA’s approach as a “monumental betrayal” of fans.

It said based on the information it so far had available, fans faced paying 6,900 euros (just over £6,000) 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 FIFA 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 eight per hundred of a stadium’s capacity for each match.

FSE pointed out 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 set to confirm pricing details to members of the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) on Thursday afternoon.

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”.

“This can’t be allowed to happen. Match-goers across the world deserve protection from these rip-off prices,” the group’s statement added.

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

The Scottish Football Association confirmed its PMA allocation pricing, with the cheapest tickets for the match against Haiti in Boston costing 180 US dollars (£134) up to 500 US dollars (£372).

The cheapest tickets for the second game against Morocco, also in Boston, start at 220 US dollars (£164) while the final group game against Brazil in Miami will cost a minimum 265 US dollars (£198).

The same price was listed for the final tickets as had been published by the Croatian FA earlier.

A random selection draw for World Cup tickets was opened by tournament organisers FIFA at 4pm UK time on Thursday.

All fans – not just those able to purchase tickets through the PMA allocation – will be able to go online between now and January 13 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 successfully obtained, with their credit cards then being charged accordingly.

Tickets sold in earlier windows have been subject to dynamic pricing – meaning they will rise or fall depending on demand.

Following England from the first match of Euro 2024 to the final with tickets in the ‘fan first’ category would have cost 375 euros (£328) according to information published by UEFA in the autumn of 2023. Even tickets in the next category up would have cost a total of 860 euros (£753).

FIFA has been approached for comment.