December 12 – FIFA have revealed staggering ticket prices for national team supporters for the 2026 World Cup, prompting Football Supporters Europe (FSE) to call for an “immediate halt” to sales. Ticket prices are five times higher than at the last World Cup in Qatar.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) said it was “astonished” by the “extortionate ticket prices” that’ll affect the most dedicated fans. The fan group calculated that it would cost $6,900 for a fan to follow his team to the final.
These ticket prices will not be subject to dynamic ticket pricing, but exclude travel to the United States or hotel expenses, which have surged since last Friday’s tournament draw confirmed the World Cup match schedule.
In a statement, FSE said: “We call on FIFA to immediately halt Participating Member Association (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.”
FIFA also demands that fans pay upfront, in early 2026. The world governing body expects to generate $3 billion from ticketing and hospitality for the 2026 World Cup. In 2018, bidding nations Mexico, Canada and the USA promised to sell seven per cent of tickets, about 5,000 in each stadium, at $21 in the lowest price category in the group stages. They aimed for $128 for the final. FIFA have chosen a different direction with their $60 group-stage tickets in notoriously slim supply.
“This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is,” said FSE. “For the first time in World Cup history, no consistent price will be offered across all group stage games. Instead, Fifa is introducing a variable pricing policy dependent on vague criteria such as the perceived attractiveness of the fixture. Fans of different national teams will therefore have to pay different prices for the same category at the same stage of the tournament, without any transparency on the pricing structure enforced by Fifa.
FIFA previously said: “The pricing model adopted for Fifa World Cup 26 reflects the existing market practice for major entertainment and sporting events within our hosts on a daily basis, soccer included.”
England supporters will have to spend at least £198 on a ticket for their World Cup opener against Croatia. A lot of tickets for England – Panama will be on sale at £373 or £523. The prices keep increasing with the World Cup final listed at £3,117 per ticket.
The Croatian football federation published details of tickets for the tournament, with a standard tier seat at the England game £372 and the premium tier seat at £520.
In Germany, national team fans will have to spend between €155 and €430 for their team’s match against Curacao in Houston. Germany – Ecuador will cost them between €230 and €700. If German fans want to follow their team to the final that will set them back between €5,935 euros and €14,095. The DFB said that they “would have preferred more affordable tickets for our fans. FIFA alone sets the ticket prices; the DFB has no influence over that.”
FSE also highlighted that Category 4 – the tournament’s lowest price tier – will not be available to the National Associations for their most loyal fans. Instead, those tickets will be funnelled into general sales and subject to dynamic pricing, raising fears of further inflation.
Fans of different nations could now pay different sums for the same match tier with “no transparency” around how prices are set.
England fans described the pricing as a “slap in the face” after learning that a full run of matches could exceed £5,000. Supporters of debutant nations such as Curaçao, Cape Verde and Jordan accused FIFA of delivering the “mother of all rip-offs”.
Scotland’s Tartan Army fan group echoed the fury, with association chair Martin Riddell calling the figures “disgraceful” and questioning “on what planet FIFA lives” after seeing prices nearly quintuple since 2022.
Even in the United States – one of the tournament’s host nations and a market used to premium sports pricing – there has been widespread criticism at pricing levels.
Similarly the world’s media, including FIFA media partners, have weighed in against the world governing body.
From the group draw a week ago to the second ticket ballot window this week, FIFA has been the target of vitriol and venom as it has alienated hard core football supporters and casual World Cup followers alike with its politics and its commercial greed that have both proved out of step with the world’s football community.
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