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Fifa president Gianni Infantino has defended World Cup ticket prices, insisting that football’s global governing body was obliged to take advantage of US laws that allow tickets to be resold for thousands of dollars above face value.
Fifa has faced searing criticism over the cost of World Cup tickets, with fan organization Football Supporters Europe (FSE) calling the pricing structure “extortionate” and a “monumental betrayal”. FSE filed a lawsuit with the European Commission in March targeting Fifa over “excessive ticket prices” for the tournament.
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Fifa’s World Cup resale website last week advertised four tickets to the final at a cost of $2.3m each. Fifa does not control the asking prices on its resale site but takes a 15% purchase fee from the buyer of each ticket and a 15% resale fee from the seller. That means Fifa would make $690,000 if one of the tickets for the final sold at $2.3m on resale.
Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Infantino said the eye-watering prices reflected demand to watch the World Cup.
“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,” Infantino said on Tuesday. “And number two it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy these tickets. And if somebody buys a ticket for the final for $2m I will personally bring him a hotdog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience.”
Fan groups have contrasted the difference in price of tickets for this summer with the Qatar World Cup in 2022. The most expensive ticket for the final in 2022 was around $1,600 at face value, while in 2026 the most expensive ticket for the final is about $11,000 at its original price.
Infantino was adamant that the steep increase in face-value prices were justified.
“We have to look at the market – we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates,” Infantino said. “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.
“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 of our price.”
Infantino said that Fifa received in excess of 500m ticket requests for 2026, compared with fewer than 50m combined for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. He added that 25% of tickets for the group phase were priced at under $300.
“You cannot go to watch in the US a college game, not even speaking about a top professional game of a certain level, for less than $300,” Infantino said. “And this is the World Cup.”
On Wednesday morning tickets were available for the next home game for the New York Yankees, one of the most popular professional teams in the US, for as little as $11.
