New wave of World Cup tickets go on sale – costing much more

FIFA risks wrath of priced-out supporters and ignores legal challenge as it starts flogging new front-row category of premium seats for £8,142 – more than a brand new Citroen

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FIFA has launched another wave of World Cup ticket sales – introducing a new front-row category that costs even more.

Fans have already moaned they have been priced out of attending June’s tournament jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.

A fortnight ago tournament chiefs announced they were releasing a new range of pitchside seats better than previously sold Category One positions.

Those ‘front category’ seats went up for grabs yesterday at £8,142 each – beyond the price of a brand new car.

The new range sparked online complaints from fans who splashed out on what they thought had been the best seats only to find they had been usurped.

Last month watchdog Euroconsumers and Football Supporters Europe filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing FIFA of abusing its ticket sales monopoly to impose high prices and unfair conditions.

The complaint alleges breaches of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position.

Romane Armangau, of Euroconsumers, said: “FIFA has a complete monopoly over World Cup ticket sales.

“They are using that power to charge prices that would not exist in a normal competitive market while hiding information from buyers and manipulating them into rushed decisions.”

The groups highlight a range of alleged abusive practices including limited transparency on ticket categories and seat allocation, a ‘variable pricing’ system that can push costs up over time and a scarcity of advertised £45 tickets.

“When you buy that ticket you don’t actually know what you’re buying,” Romane said.

“It means attending the 2026 World Cup has become financially out of reach for most ordinary supporters.”

Euroconsumers and its partners are urging the European Commission to step in by imposing price caps and forcing greater transparency over sales.

“We are asking the Commission to act immediately with interim measures,” Romane said.

“Once those matches are played the harm to fans cannot be undone.”

We told last month how World Cup final tickets cost more than a new car.

It wanted £8,333 for top level seats at the big match on July 19 – the most expensive ever general admission price to a football match.

That is £638 more than the cost of a brand spanking new Citroen Ami – an all-electric motor designed for city commuters.

It is also more than a host of luxury second-hand cars currently available across the UK – including a black 2008 Porsche Cayenne 4.5 Turbo (£6,495), blue 2014 C Class Mercedes-Benz (£7,270), red 2014 Jaguar XF (£7,990), white 2016 Audi A4 (£7,999) and white 2016 BMW X3 (£8,000).

In their World Cup bid book the three 2026 tournament hosts pledged tickets to the final would cost a maximum of £1,174.

But by the time they went on sale to members of each country’s official supporters’ club in December the most expensive was £6,581.

Tickets for the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar cost £1,214 for the top-priced seat.

Establishing the cost of tickets for this summer’s tournament is difficult as FIFA has never released its pricing structures.

It uses a version of dynamic pricing in which seat costs change at the start of each sales point depending on past demand.

After the cost of the initial ticket releases last year sparked outrage and threats of fan boycotts FIFA announced a small number of £45 seats.

But few fans have been able to get hold of the budget tickets, some of which have been offered on secondary selling sites for up to 20 times face value.

Thomas Concannon, who leads the Football Supporters’ Association’s fans’ embassy for England away games, said the cost of attending the World Cup will be ‘well into the thousands if not over £10,000’ for just a few matches.

“Sometimes in your life you only get one opportunity to be able to go to a World Cup,” he said.

“For many this was their opportunity and they just won’t be able to afford to go.”

FIFA has said it is ‘focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing and prospective fans’.

“As a not-for-profit organization the revenue FIFA generates from the World Cup is reinvested to fuel the growth of the game – men, women, youth – throughout FIFA’s 211 member associations globally,” it added.