England fans slam FIFA, demand halt to ‘extortionate’ 2026 World Cup ticket sales

By : AFP

Date: 12 December 2025 12:44pm WAT

Share :

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gives a press conference Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) in Doha on December 16, 2022, during the Qatar 2022 World Cup football tournament. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gives a press conference Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) in Doha on December 16, 2022, during the Qatar 2022 World Cup football tournament. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN / AFP)

The cheapest ticket for the World Cup final, if the Three Lions reach that stage, cost between $4,185 and $8,680 for members of the England Supporters’ Travel Club

England fans claim they have been “slapped in the face” by FIFA after it was revealed a run to the World Cup final would cost supporters over £5,000 for tickets. The pricing policy was described as “laughable” by the Football Supporters’ Association’s England Fans’ Embassy, while Football Supporters Europe (FSE) called the prices a “monumental betrayal” of match-going fans and urged FIFA to call a halt to the sale process.

Fans hoping to access tickets through their national associations’ travel programmes and loyalty schemes discovered on Thursday that the cheapest final ticket would cost 4,185 US dollars (£3,120). The Football Association shared pricing information with the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) on Thursday evening, which showed that if a fan bought the cheapest ticket for every game through to the final it would cost 7,020 US dollars (£5,228).

These tickets are the ring-fenced, fixed-price tickets FIFA had pledged to set aside for national associations, known as the participant member association (PMA) allocation, following the controversy over FIFA adopting a dynamic pricing strategy in earlier ticket sales. The PMA allocations equate to eight per cent of a stadium’s capacity for each game. An England fan buying a ticket in the most expensive category for each game would end up spending 16,590 US dollars (£12,364).

An England fan who managed to buy tickets in the ‘fan first’ category at Euro 2024 could have watched every game for 375 euros (£328), while even a supporter who bought all their tickets in the next category up would have spent 860 euros (£753). In a post on X, the England Fans’ Embassy said: “These prices are a slap in the face to supporters who support their team outside of the flagship tournament that appears every four years.

“To call the Category 3 tickets, the cheapest available to ESTC members, ‘Supporter Value Category 3’ that comes at a cost of 7,020 US dollars if you want to follow England from start to finish, is laughable. A game for supporters, loyalty has been thrown out of the window and supporters of the participating nations have been completely let down.”

FSE said, from the ticket price information it had available, supporting your team from the first game to the final at the 2026 tournament would cost five times as much as at the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022. A statement said: “Football Supporters Europe is astonished by the extortionate ticket prices imposed by FIFA on the most dedicated supporters for next year’s FIFA World Cup.

“This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is. We call on FIFA to immediately halt PMA ticket sales, engage in a consultation with all impacted parties and review ticket prices and category distribution until a solution that respects the tradition, universality, and cultural significance of the World Cup is found.”

England supporters can expect to pay at least £198 for a ticket to their opening match against Croatia in Dallas on June 17. Tickets for the subsequent group games against Ghana and Panama start at 220 US dollars (£164). The Scottish Football Association also confirmed its PMA allocation pricing on Thursday, with the cheapest tickets for the match against Haiti in Boston costing 180 US dollars (£134) up to 500 US dollars (£372).

The cheapest tickets for the second game against Morocco, also in Boston, start at 220 US dollars (£164), while the final group game against Brazil in Miami will cost a minimum 265 US dollars (£198). Tickets sold in earlier windows prior to last Friday’s World Cup finals draw were subject to dynamic pricing – meaning prices rise or fall depending on demand.

Tags: