Following an uproar from national supporters’ associations about the cost of World Cup entry for traveling fans, FIFA on Tuesday introduced a new tier of ticket prices, “Supporter Entry Tier” tickets.
World soccer’s governing body said discounted $60 (about €51) tickets would be available for all 104 matches of the tournament, including the final. This is significant because the original plans for final tickets were projected to cost no less than $4,000 for supporters purchasing through their national football associations.
The competition, to be held in the US, Mexico and Canada between June 11 and July 19 next year, will certainly be the most expensive World Cup ever for supporters, easily surpassing even the record prices in oil-rich Qatar in 2022.
How many $60 tickets are available and for what?
FIFA said the new tier of tickets will be 10% of the tickets allocated to Participating Member Associations (PMAs).
In other words, FIFA allocates a limited number of tickets to the national associations competing in a match to sell to loyal fans, 10% of which will be priced as such.
“Overall, half of each PMA’s ticket allocation will fall in the most affordable categories: 40% under the Supporter Value tier and 10% under the new Supporter Entry tier,” FIFA said in a statement,
FIFA said it would be up to individual national associations to define the eligibility criteria and application process.
“They are requested to ensure that these tickets are allotted exclusively to loyal fans who are closely associated with their national teams,” it said.
As an example, let’s take Scotland, whose FA published detailed data on its ticket allocation For their first World Cup since 1998. Its football association has just under 4,000 tickets to distribute among fans, in various price ranges, for its three group games in Massachusetts and Miami. , In stadiums that have more than 60,000 seats. So on that basis, taking FIFA’s 10% figure at face value, there should now be 370 to 390 tickets priced at $60 for each game.
FIFA also said it would waive administrative fees paid by fans applying for knockout stage tickets in the hope that their national team will advance, while issuing refunds if their team fails to progress to the later stages.
Hundreds for group stage matches, thousands for finals
The low price comes a week after sharp criticism of World Cup ticket prices from the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) group, which described the prices as “extortion” and calculated that a hypothetical supporter following his country at every game for the final in July would have to spend “a minimum of $6,900” on purchasing a ticket from his national football association.
The three-nation World Cup in North America, which will feature 48 teams instead of 32 for the first time, is expected to generate billions of dollars in revenue for FIFA.
FIFA says demand is high, with the latest sales phase receiving more than 20 million ticket applications.
Before Tuesday’s announcement, the cheapest group stage tickets for supporters from countries other than co-hosts the U.S., Mexico and Canada ranged from $140 to $265, with higher prices typically applied to games involving more prestigious and well-supported teams.
When competing for the right to hold the competition eight years ago, the hosts promised that hundreds of thousands of tickets, priced at $21 apiece, would be made available for group stage games. The most expensive ticket for the 1994 World Cup in the United States sold for $475, while the current estimate for the coming year was $8,680.
The current phase of ticket applications began on December 11 and will run till January 13 when the draw is scheduled to take place.
Edited by: Kieran Burke