FIFA president Gianni Infantino guarantees to serve any fan who pays $2m for World Cup ultimate ticket a ‘sizzling canine and a Coke’
The football chief says he would want to ensure anyone who spent so much to see the big match ‘has a great experience’ amid global fan fury over ticket prices
(Image: AP)
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he will ‘personally bring a hot dog and a Coke’ to anyone who buys a World Cup final ticket for $2m.
He said he would be happy to fork out on the stadium grub to make sure the moneybags fan ‘has a great experience’.
High ticket prices for this summer’s soccer fest have sparked global fan fury.
But Infantino did not appear fazed by the furore as he joked about the cost of final tickets being flogged on FIFA’s official resale platform.
Last month four seats behind a goal for the July 19 final in New Jersey were listed for just under $2.3m – £1.693m – each.
Infantino said: “If some people put on the resale market some tickets for the final at $2m number one – it doesn’t mean that the tickets cost $2m.
“And number two – it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy these tickets.”
He has repeatedly defended tournament ticket prices which he said were in-line with other sporting events in the United States.
“In the US it is permitted to resell tickets as well, so if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price,” Infantino at a conference in Beverly Hills.
“And as a matter of fact, even though some people are saying that the ticket prices we have are high, they still end up on the resale market at an even higher price – more than double our price.
“We have 25% of the group stage tickets which can be bought for less than $300.”
Infantino suggested that was comparable with going to a ‘college game’ in the US, adding: “And this is the World Cup.”
He spoke out as FIFA updated its ticket resale platform so that seats at World Cup matches in Toronto, Canada, could only be sold for their original price.
The change is to comply with a recent Ontario government ban on reselling event tickets above face value.
Tickets for the six matches at Toronto Stadium were removed from the official marketplace last week in response to the Canadian province passing its 2026 ‘Putting Fans First Act’.
The law in co-host Mexico law prevents tickets being re-sold above face value.
But anyone who has bought a legitimate World Cup ticket from FIFA can offer it for sale at any price they want in the US.
One cheeky chancer tried to flog a £164 face-value ticket for England’s World Cup Group L clash with Panama for £1m on FIFA’s resale site.
The outrageous offers came after we revealed face value tickets for the July 19 final cost more than a brand new car.
FIFA wants £8,333 for top level seats at the big match.
That is £638 more than the cost of a new Citroen Ami – an all-electric motor designed for city commuters – and the most expensive ever general admission price to a football match.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said recently: “Before I remember the World Cup – years, years, years ago – was like a celebration of the joy of football for the nations going there.
“Everyone traveled all around the globe, from the other continents, to see your country, to play there.
“And it was affordable. Now, modern times, right? It’s so expensive.”
Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney has called on football chiefs to act on ticket prices which had turned the World Cup into the ‘most expensive in history’.
He has written to Infantino saying the dynamic ticket-pricing model used for the tournament will be ‘simply unaffordable’ for many Scotland supporters.
John said the tournament was now ‘the opposite of what football, and indeed the biggest sporting occasion on the planet, should be about’.
“Scotland fans, travelling across the globe, are entirely justified in calling for you to put an end to this pricing model, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis when people are really struggling,” he said.
“I am urging you to act to introduce a fair, affordable ticketing model for fans.”
FIFA is projected to generate a record-breaking £2.2bn from ticket sales and hospitality alone at the World Cup.
That is a massive increase from the £700m made from matchdays in Qatar in 2022.
Football’s world governing body expects to make £9.6bn from the four-year cycle culminating in this summer’s tournament – £6.6bn of which will be brought in this year.
Experts credit this tournament’s expanded 48-team, 104-match format and high demand.
Ricardo Fort, a sponsorship consultant who has negotiated commercial deals with the body on behalf of Visa and Coca-Cola, said: “If you ignore the noise and the politics then the work done by FIFA’s commercial team is very impressive.”
A FIFA spokesman said it was ‘focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing but also prospective fans’.
Face value tickets started at £45 which it said was ‘a very competitive price point for a major global sporting event in the US’.
Those were available for all 104 matches ‘including the final’ and had been ‘allocated specifically to supporters of qualified teams’ to be distributed by their football associations which could define their ‘own eligibility criteria and application process’.
“They are requested to ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams,” the spokesman said.
That ensured fans of qualifying nations would ‘benefit from a dedicated ticket pricing tier which has been designed to make following their teams on football’s greatest stage more affordable’.
A FIFA spokesman said it had established a sales and secondary market model that ‘reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events across the host countries’.
Its ‘resale marketplace’ provided a ‘safe, transparent and secure environment for fans to sell or transfer tickets’.
“The applicable resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards across North American sports and entertainment sectors,” the spokesman said.
“FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors where price adaptations are made to optimize sales and attendance and ensure a fair market value for events.
“Unlike the entities behind profit-driven third-party ticket marketplaces FIFA is a not-for-profit organisation.
“Revenue generated from the FIFA World Cup 2026 ticket sales model is reinvested into the global development of football – across the men’s, women’s and youth game – through FIFA’s 211 member associations.
“In fact FIFA expects to reinvest more than 90% of its budgeted investment for the 2023–2026 cycle back into the game.”
Fans attending the World Cup also face significant hotel and transport costs which have been ramped up for the duration of the tournament.
