Top TV broadcaster leads followers’ boycott of ‘nasty, greed-ridden’ World Cup
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Crick brands tournament a ‘racket’ over sky high ticket prices and pledges not to ‘watch a minute’
TV broadcaster Michael Crick is leading a fans’ boycott of the “nasty, greed-ridden” World Cup. The BBC and Channel 4 News veteran has vowed to not to “watch a minute” of next summer’s football “racket”.
He has slammed FIFA for ramping up ticket prices at the tournament jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. And he has blasted the sport’s governing body’s “sycophancy” towards US President Donald Trump to whom it has awarded its own “peace prize”.
Michael, 67, a founding member of Channel 4 News and winner of a Royal Television Society specialist journalist of the year award, shared on X (formerly known as Twitter): “The 2026 World Cup is a nasty, greed-ridden racket.
“First, the sycophancy towards Trump.
“Now, the minimum price of £3,000 for tickets for the final. All that after the corruption of previous cups awarded to Russia & Qatar.
“Count me out. I’ll try not to watch a minute of it.”
Legions of England fans also pledged to snub the tournament after supporters’ groups labelled ticket prices ‘scandalous’ and demanded a halt in sales until they are reduced. One wrote on X: “The FA need to make a stand.
“There are genuine fans who have travelled with England for years that are missing this World Cup due to ticket prices. England started football – now we should say enough is enough.”
Another wrote: “It was really worth me taking days off work to go and watch s*** friendly matches on a Tuesday night to then not even be able to afford to go. Every nation needs to boycott the World Cup as football fans united so this never happens again. F*** FIFA F*** the FA.”
Another supporter moaned: “There should be a mass boycott of the World Cup by associations and fans of paying for tickets for the games. “The pricing is a f****** disgrace, FIFA ripping a*** out of it and pricing many average fans out the game which is probably what they’d prefer anyway.”
One more raged: “The only way to dent the FIFA & Infantino greed is to boycott the #WorldCup. As long as fans are willing to go into debt, even remortgage their homes for what they feel is a once in a lifetime moment, that won’t happen.
“And so the shameless #football traffickers profiteer on.” The Football Supporters’ Association wants ticket sales halted after revealing matches will cost up to £35-a-minute to watch.
The body said FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino were “beyond shameless” in exploiting supporter loyalty for profit. It has called on the FA – and associations representing each nation taking part in the summer showpiece – to confront the sport’s world governing body and demand prices are cut.
The association said: “This is a tournament that is supposed to be celebrated by the world, where fans of all nations come together for the love of football. FIFA have decided to make it all about the money and the elite who can afford it.
“For FIFA loyalty is not the hard-working fan travelling thousands of miles in support of their team at qualifiers around the continent. A game that should be for all is now only for those who can afford it.”
Tickets for next summer’s matches are more than double those for games at Qatar 2022. The cheapest tickets for the final are £3,119 – seven times more expensive than the previous tournament.
It will cost £5,225 for a fan to follow their team through to the final if they were to attend all eight matches in the cheapest ticket category. Ticket prices outstrip wages for some of the poorest countries.
The average wage in Haiti is £110-a-month but the cheapest ticket for the nation’s opening match against Scotland costs £135. Jojo Quansah said fans of Ghana — where the average monthly salary is £190 — are cancelling their World Cup travel plans.
“It’s a bit of a disappointment for those who, for the last three-and-a-half years, have been trying to put some money away in the hope that they can have their first World Cup experience,” he said. “FIFA themselves have gone ahead to increase the number of teams so a lot more smaller football nations will get a chance to have themselves and their fans represented.
“It’s been overshadowed by pricing those same fans out of a chance to watch their country play at the World Cup.” FIFA responded to the furore by announcing it had received five million ticket requests from fans in more than 200 countries in the 24 hours since the latest sale opened.
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