FIFA slashed the price of some World Cup tickets for teams' most loyal fans following a global backlash, with some fans now able to get $60 seats for the final instead of paying $4,185.
It was a rare climbdown by the soccer body and its president Gianni Infantino after facing waves of criticism for World Cup strategies, including top-dollar prices and closer political alignment with U.S. President Donald Trump.
FIFA said Tuesday that $60 tickets will be made available for every game at the tournament in North America, going to the national federations whose teams are playing. Those federations decide how to distribute them to loyal fans who have attended previous games at home and on the road.
The number of $60 tickets for each game is likely to be from 400 to 750 per team, in what FIFA is now calling a “Supporter Entry Tier” price category. FIFA is using 16 host cities, including 11 NFL stadiums in the United States, plus two in Canada and three in Mexico.
FIFA did not specify exactly why it so dramatically changed strategy, but said the lower prices are “designed to further support traveling fans following their national teams across the tournament.” However, the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) group, which represents grassroots fan groups, said the limited price cut was “an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash.”
“This shows that FIFA's ticketing policy is not set in stone, was decided in a rush, and without proper consultation,” the group said in a statement.
The World Cup in North America will be the first edition that features 48 teams — up from 32 — and is expected to earn FIFA at least $10 billion in revenue while being the most expensive ever for fans.
Despite the outcry over prices, FIFA says it has already received more than 20 million ticket requests in its latest sales phase.
The FSE group said that even with Tuesday's announcement, “the vast majority would still have to pay extortionate prices, way higher than at any tournament before.”
Initial pledge for cheap tickets
Fans worldwide reacted with shock and anger last week on seeing FIFA's ticketing plans that gave participating teams no tickets in the lowest-priced category. Their standard allocation is 8% of stadium capacity per team.
The cheapest prices ranged from $140 to $265 for group-stage games that did not involve co-hosts the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The $265 games involve Lionel Messi's Argentina, Portugal with Cristiano Ronaldo, and well-supported teams like Brazil and England.
FIFA had set those prices despite the co-hosts having pledged eight years ago — when they were bidding for the tournament — that hundreds of thousands of $21 tickets would be made available for games before the knockout rounds.
The hospitality program in modern NFL venues, now managed in-house instead of outsourced to an agency, is expected to earn FIFA billions of dollars rather than hundreds of millions.
European criticism
Criticism from fans, especially in Europe, had been increasing for several months over plans for “dynamic pricing” plus extra fees on a FIFA-run resale platform — both features common in the U.S. entertainment industry but not to soccer fans worldwide.
Fan anger intensified last week when it became clear loyal supporters would have no access to the cheapest category tickets, and fans who wanted to reserve a ticket for all of their team's potential games — through the final — would not get refunded until after the tournament.
In another climbdown Tuesday, FIFA said it would waive its administrative fees when refunds are made after the July 19 final.
Fans with disabilities
Even before the FIFA statement, the supporter group FSE called Tuesday for a re-think on World Cup policy for fans with disabilities.
It said FIFA's resale platform was offering disability access seats at multiple times face value with no assurances those tickets actually would be sold to people with a disability. Those fans also can no longer get free tickets for companions as they could at the last World Cup in Qatar.
In Qatar, Infantino started an eve-of-tournament speech with a tirade at perceived critics of the host nation, FIFA, and himself that included the line “today I feel disabled.”
“True inclusion requires action,” FSE said Tuesday, reminding Infantino of that speech. “It's time for FIFA to move away from populistic statements and respect its own commitments.”