Infantino defends record ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, fan associations say the tournament has become too expensive
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has rejected criticism over the exceptionally high ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, saying that the world football governing body sets prices in the context of the North American sports and entertainment market. The debate over ticket accessibility has intensified further ahead of the start of the tournament, which begins on 11 June 2026 in Mexico and ends with the final on 19 July in the New York and New Jersey area. According to FIFA data, this is the largest edition of the World Cup so far, with 48 national teams, 104 matches and hosting duties shared by Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. It is precisely this combination of a larger format, a major commercial market and record demand that has become the centre of the dispute between FIFA and fan organisations. Infantino argues that prices that are too low would create even more space for resellers, while critics respond that FIFA, through its own sales and resale system, has significantly distanced the World Cup from the fans for whom the tournament has traditionally been intended.
FIFA points to the US market and the danger of resale
Infantino, according to an AFP report from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, said that prices reflect demand for World Cup matches in the United States, which he described as the most developed entertainment market in the world. His message is that FIFA, when operating in such an environment, cannot ignore the market relations that already exist in American sport, from professional leagues to major college games. According to the same report, Infantino emphasised that ticket resale is permitted in the US and claimed that tickets sold at an initial price that was too low would very quickly appear on the secondary market at significantly higher amounts. In doing so, he attempted to justify FIFA's decision to keep part of the revenue within the official system, instead of leaving the difference between the nominal and market price to resellers. Critics, however, argue that such an argument does not answer the question of why initial prices for numerous categories have reached levels that are unattainable for many fans.
According to Reuters' report from the Semafor economic summit in New York, Infantino further emphasised that the World Cup is FIFA's main source of revenue in the four-year cycle. He said that FIFA uses the revenue generated during one month of the tournament to finance football programmes in the period until the next World Cup. In doing so, he referred to FIFA's status as a non-profit organisation and to the fact that it has 211 member associations, stressing that the revenue is invested in the organisation and development of football around the world. According to his interpretation, a significant number of associations would not be able to maintain organised football at the current level without FIFA's development support. Such reasoning places ticket prices in a broader financial framework, but it does not remove the objection that the cost of attending the tournament has risen faster for many fans than the means of the average spectator.
The biggest World Cup so far also brings record demand
FIFA states in official announcements that demand for tickets for the 2026 World Cup has reached an unprecedented level. According to the organisation's announcement from January 2026, more than half a billion ticket requests were received during the random selection phase in just 33 days, and applications came from countries and territories of all 211 FIFA member associations. The organisation stated that, alongside the host countries, the countries with the highest number of requests included Germany, England, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Colombia. Infantino presented that figure as evidence of exceptional global interest in the tournament, and FIFA said it cannot provide stadium entry to everyone who wants to attend matches. At the same time, this is precisely where the key dilemma opens up: should great demand automatically mean maximising prices, or should the World Cup, because of its symbolic and social importance, retain a wider range of affordable categories.
The 2026 tournament will be played in 16 cities in three countries, which further increases costs for fans who want to follow their national team through several stages of the competition. According to FIFA's schedule, the competition includes 104 matches, significantly more than previous editions with 32 national teams. A larger number of matches also brings greater commercial potential, from ticket sales and hospitality packages to television rights and sponsorships. But for fans travelling between cities thousands of kilometres apart, the ticket is only one part of the overall cost. Accommodation, air travel, local transport, food and insurance make the tournament financially demanding even when the most expensive seating categories are not taken into account.
Tickets from 60 dollars do not stop criticism
After the first criticism, FIFA introduced the Supporter Entry Tier category, with tickets priced at 60 US dollars. According to FIFA's official announcement, this category is intended for fans of qualified national teams, is available for all 104 matches, including the final, and allocation is carried out by the participating national associations through their own criteria and application procedures. FIFA presents this measure as a way to give fans who follow their national teams more affordable entry to matches. In earlier sales phases, the organisation also emphasised that tickets for group-stage matches start at 60 dollars, which created public expectation that there would be a more significant number of affordable seats.
Football Supporters Europe and Euroconsumers, however, argue that the availability of the cheapest tickets is insufficiently transparent and does not change the essence of the problem. In a formal complaint submitted to the European Commission on 24 March 2026, they stated that FIFA used its monopoly over ticket sales to impose excessive prices, insufficiently clear purchase conditions and unfair procedures toward fans in Europe. The complaint particularly warns that 60-dollar tickets were highlighted in promotions, but, according to those organisations, in practice they were so limited that they were not truly available to many buyers. FSE and Euroconsumers therefore describe that model as problematic from the perspective of consumer protection, claiming that fans did not have sufficiently clear information about the final price, seat location and the real availability of categories.
Fan groups speak of a "monumental betrayal"
Football Supporters Europe, an organisation that brings together fan associations from the continent, described the prices as excessive and as a "monumental betrayal" of the World Cup tradition. According to reports by The Guardian and Sky Sports, particular reactions were triggered by prices published through the quotas of national associations, that is, the system intended for fans of participating national teams. The Guardian reported that the cheapest ticket for the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey in that allocation was 4185 dollars, while FSE estimated that a fan following their national team from the first match to the final could pay at least around 6900 dollars for tickets alone. Sky Sports, citing published price lists, stated that tickets for individual group-stage and knockout-stage matches reached several times higher amounts, and that costs rise further for those who want to travel through all stages of the tournament.
FSE and affiliated fan groups called on FIFA to halt sales, consult with affected parties and reconsider prices and the allocation of categories. In their view, the problem is not only high nominal prices, but also the fact that the system increasingly relies on the buyer's ability to pay, and less and less on the traditional idea that the World Cup should be accessible to a broad circle of fans from different countries. Fan organisations also warn that high travel and accommodation costs are already expected in the North American market, so the combination of those expenses with ticket prices may mean that the tournament will be available primarily to wealthier spectators. FIFA, on the other hand, emphasises record demand and the need to finance global football, which is why the debate is increasingly turning into a question of who should bear the cost of the growth in the commercial value of the biggest football competition.
The dynamic pricing model is also disputed
One of the key objections concerns dynamic or variable pricing. FIFA has previously confirmed that in some sales phases it uses a model in which prices can change depending on demand, which is common in the American entertainment and sports industry, but is far more controversial in the context of national-team football. FSE and Euroconsumers claim in their complaint to the European Commission that such a model did not have a sufficiently clear upper limit or an explanation of how prices are formed. According to their claim, fans in some cases entered the purchase process without reliable information about what final price they would encounter when their turn came. Such lack of transparency, the organisations state, is particularly problematic when the organiser simultaneously has exclusive control over the primary ticket market.
An additional dispute concerns the official resale market. FSE and Euroconsumers claim that FIFA directs fans toward its own Marketplace and that fees are charged to both the buyer and the seller on transactions. According to their complaint, such a model enables FIFA to earn additional revenue on the same ticket after the first sale, while the overall cost for fans increases. Infantino, on the other hand, cites resale precisely as the reason why prices need to be set closer to the market level. According to his explanation, if there is willingness among some buyers to pay very high amounts, a lower initial price would not necessarily help fans, but could create profit for intermediaries on the secondary market. Critics respond that FIFA, as the owner of the tournament and the official sales channel, nevertheless has the ability to shape a system that would better protect affordability.
FIFA's financial argument and the question of public interest
FIFA's financial argument is based on the claim that revenue from the World Cup supports football throughout the world. According to FIFA's official financial documents for the 2023-2026 cycle, the organisation planned record revenue of 11 billion dollars and significantly increased investment in football programmes. In a separate announcement, the FIFA Council approved a record financial contribution of 727 million dollars connected with the 2026 World Cup, which the organisation presents as part of a broader investment in the global football community. That argument carries weight in smaller associations that depend on development programmes, infrastructure, coach education and support for competitions. But the debate over tickets shows that the financing of global football increasingly confronts the question of the accessibility of the sporting event itself.
In practice, this is a clash between two approaches. FIFA argues that it must use demand and market conditions to generate revenue that it later distributes through development programmes, tournament costs and support for associations. Fan associations argue that the World Cup is not an ordinary commercial product, but a global sporting event whose value also depends on fan culture, the atmosphere in stadiums and the sense that football is accessible to the wider public. If entry to the most important matches is measured in thousands of dollars, critics warn, then the social character of the tournament also changes. In the coming weeks, organisers will have to prove that record commercial value does not also mean stadiums filled exclusively with those who can pay the most.
The debate will continue during the tournament
As the start of the 2026 World Cup approached, ticket prices became one of the main political and consumer issues surrounding the tournament. According to AFP, at the beginning of May tickets for some group-stage matches were still available through official channels, but at prices that fan associations considered too high. This shows that large overall demand does not necessarily mean an even sell-out of all matches at all prices, especially when travel and accommodation are included alongside tickets. In that context, FIFA's market argument will be tested not only by the level of revenue, but also by the image of the stands, the mood of fans and the reactions of national associations. If it turns out that prices have indeed excluded a large part of traditional travelling fans, pressure on FIFA could continue even after the end of the tournament.
For now, both sides remain in their positions. Infantino argues that FIFA is not doing anything fundamentally different from other major sports organisations in North America and that World Cup revenue enables the development of football in 211 member countries and territories. Football Supporters Europe, Euroconsumers and other fan groups argue that precisely such an approach proves that fan loyalty is being turned into a commercial opportunity, with too little protection for those who have followed national teams for years. The 2026 World Cup will therefore, alongside football on the pitch, also be a major test of the model by which the biggest sporting events set the price of access to their audiences.
Sources:
- FIFA – official data on the schedule, competition format, number of matches and host cities of the 2026 World Cup (link)
- FIFA – announcement about more than 500 million ticket requests during the random selection phase (link)
- FIFA – official announcement about the Supporter Entry Tier category and tickets from 60 US dollars (link)
- Al Jazeera / AFP – report on Infantino's defence of high ticket prices and arguments about the American market and resale (link)
- Al Jazeera / Reuters – report on Infantino's statements about FIFA's revenue, non-profit status and investments in 211 member associations (link)
- Football Supporters Europe and Euroconsumers – formal complaint to the European Commission over prices, dynamic pricing and ticket purchase conditions (link)
- The Guardian – report on reactions from fan organisations and prices through national association quotas (link)
- Sky Sports – overview of ticket prices, objections from fan groups and explanations of the sales model (link)
- FIFA Annual Report 2023 – financial overview and budget for the 2023-2026 cycle with planned revenue and investments (link)
- FIFA Council – official announcement about the financial contribution connected with the 2026 World Cup (link)