(The Guardian) England fans outrage at 'laughable' World Cup ticket prices
England fans say 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).
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.
England fans say 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).
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.
