FIFA's announcement of new 'affordable' World Cup 2026 ticket pricing bracket labelled 'a hollow gesture'
Football Supporters Europe have described the introduction of £45 tickets to a fraction of fans as an ‘appeasement tactic’.
While the introduction of the ‘supporter entry tier’ has generally been welcomed as a step in the right direction, others believe it’s a PR stunt from President Gianni Infantino.
FIFA have announced there’ll be ‘more affordable’ tickets available to fans for all 104 World Cup 2026 matches, with the introduction of the ‘supporter entry tier’. Tickets in this new pricing bracket are to be sold for $60 (£45) and are available specifically to fans of qualified teams.
The introduction comes after Football Supporters Europe (FSE) put pressure on FIFA to rethink their World Cup pricing strategy as it was originally announced it would cost supporters over and above £7,000 to follow their team from the group stage to the final.
While the FSE see the ‘supporter entry tier’ as making progress, they also believe it is an ‘appeasement tactic’ from FIFA as only 10% of the new allocation will be available to each football association. This means that around 400 tickets will be on sale to Scotland fans in this bracket.
FIFA announce ‘more affordable’ ticket prices
A FIFA statement read: "with demand in the current sales phase achieving 20 million ticket requests, FIFA has confirmed that fans of the national teams that have qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026 will benefit from a dedicated ticket pricing tier, which has been designed to make following their teams on football's greatest stage more affordable. The newly introduced Supporter Entry Tier will be available at the fixed price of USD 60 per ticket for each of the 104 matches, including the final.
“The entry tier tickets will be allocated specifically to supporters of qualified teams, with the selection and distribution process managed individually by the Participating Member Associations (PMAs). Each PMA will define its 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.
“In total, 50% of each PMA allocation will fall within the most affordable range, namely Supporter Value Tier (40%) and the Supporter Entry Tier (10%). The remaining allocation is split evenly between the Supporter Standard Tier and the Supporter Premier Tier. In addition, fans applying through the PMA allocation whose teams do not advance to the knockout phase will have the administrative fee waived when refunds are processed for unsuccessful applications.”
‘A hollow gesture’
While FIFA have claimed their new pricing strategy has been established due to high demands for tickets, the FSE believe they are just making things up as they go along. Director Ronan Evain is ‘looking at the FIFA announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash.’ He said: “this shows that FIFA's ticketing policy is not set in stone, was decided in a rush, and without proper consultation - including with FIFA's own member associations.
Meanwhile, Football Supporters Association chair, Tom Greatrex added: "A small proportion of an already small allocation being priced reasonably still leaves the vast majority of supporters who would travel to the World Cup unable to afford to do so.
"Around 450 tickets, from an allocation of approximately 4,500, for England group games is literally making a lottery of supporting your team at the finals. Having all but killed off the vibrancy, atmosphere and spectacle of the World Cup for travelling supporters, this hollow gesture might buy a few headlines, but it doesn't address Fifa being complicit in pricing supporters out of the World Cup."