Billy ‘The Bee’ Grant explores the anger over FIFA’s World Cup ticket pricing and questions wha does it say about the changing balance between money, culture and the fans at the heart of football
There has been growing disgruntlement among football supporters over FIFA’s World Cup ticket pricing, with many fans feeling the tournament is drifting further away from the people who made it what it is. Prices are soaring, access to tickets is shrinking, and there is a growing sense that FIFA is prioritising wealthy customers and corporate buyers over the regular match-going supporters who live and breathe the game week in, week out.
Regular travelling fans are angry and deeply disappointed with FIFA’s approach. These are supporters who follow their teams home and away, across continents and qualifying cycles, bringing a unique colour, atmosphere and identity to World Cups for decades. Despite that loyalty, many now feel frozen out and undervalued, priced out of the very tournament they help give meaning to
Billy The Bee Grant spoke to Peterborough Chairman Darragh McAnthony and Sky’s Will Perry about the backlash, highlighting what this means for football in the bigger picture
England fans are a prime example. Many spend thousands travelling across Europe for qualifying matches over several campaigns to build up valuable loyalty points because that system has long provided a route to World Cup tickets and, crucially, access to the cheapest price categories
The balance between tradition and finance has always been contested, with clubs and football authorities regularly testing how far prices can be pushed, but usually stopping short of fundamentally disrupting the status quo. This time, however, it feels different. Not because the pressure to make money is new, but because those setting the prices either misunderstand how important this part of football is to its core support or are prepared to sacrifice it entirely
Let’s look at the numbers underline that shift. The cost of purchasing tickets for all matches, from the group stages through to the final, has risen around seven times compared to Qatar 2022 – a tournament already criticised at the time for being expensive. Even the lowest-priced tickets, at a cost of over £5,000 to watch your team play every game to the final, now represent a huge financial barrier for travelling fans. Compare that to Qatar where the same tickets would have cost you £1000
For many long-standing supporters, this no longer feels like inflation or market forces at work. It feels like a clear signal that they are no longer the audience FIFA is designing the World Cup for. FIFA will argue there is plenty of demand, but that raises an obvious question. Demand from whom? How many average Haitian or Curaçao fan – or even Portuguese or German travelling supporter – is realistically able, or willing, to fork out such sums? The result is that the tournament is becoming a financial barrier to the very fans who have always found a way to follow their teams across the world
The concern isn’t just affordability, it’s identity. Football has always been built on loyalty, community and culture, not disposable income. When true fans are priced out, the game loses something far more valuable than revenue
This situation is made worse by the limited ticket allocations given to each nation. Fans from participating countries are receiving less than eight per cent of stadium capacity. England, for example, will have just over 4,000 tickets in an 80,000-seat stadium for their opening match in Dallas against Croatia
Traditionally, the most affordable tickets for travelling supporters – the very sections that provide the noise, colour and images broadcast around the world – would be situated behind the goal at ground level. That atmosphere does not come from hospitality lounges, corporate boxes or locals dipping in to watch a match out of curiosity.
At this tournament, those tickets are in the upper echelons of the stadium with the seats behind the goal reserved for fans prepared to pay nearly three times the price of a Category 3 (the cheapest ticket that will be available to the majority of the fans) group match ticket.
A clear cultural divide has emerged alongside this debate, particularly among some US supporters who view ticket pricing purely through the lens of supply and demand. From that perspective, high prices are seen as fair, and those who cannot afford them – often dismissively labelled “Europoors” – are told to stay at home and watch on television
The irony is that many European fans are not poor at all. They could afford to pay if push come to shove, but refuse on principle to hand their money to FIFA under these terms. As a result, some are changing their itineraries to pick and choose matches, ensuring they can still support their team in some capacity, while others have cancelled their plans altogether
England Brentford fans and Brazil fans in Qatar
That attitude has angered many traditional football supporters, who see this way of viewing sport as fundamentally at odds with what football has historically stood for, and who worry about the growing influence of a country where money is so often the overriding priority. Already, around half of Premier League clubs are majority American-owned. Add just four more and the US would hold a controlling interest in 14 clubs, giving North American owners the potential to exert decisive influence over what does – and does not – happen in British football if they decided to push the game in a direction that suited their collective interests
FIFA has defended its approach by claiming the pricing model reflects market practices in its co-host nations, aligning with how major sporting and entertainment events are typically priced in the United States and Canada. That line has been repeated even as dynamic pricing and rising costs have triggered widespread backlash from supporters – a reaction that, much like the ticketing fiasco itself, underlines how out of touch the authorities appear to be with genuine fan feeling
In the US, this outlook is shaped by a sporting culture in which fans have long been accustomed to paying extortionate prices and, some would argue, have been conditioned to accept it with little in the way of collective resistance. Many US fans now travel to the UK to attend Premier League matches, where ticket prices are a fraction of what they pay at home and the atmosphere is widely regarded as superior – with some even pointing out that it can be cheaper to fly to the UK for a weekend to watch a match than to attend a game domestically
To be fair, not all Americans are praising FIFA’s ticketing policy as ingenious or, perhaps more accurately, disingenuous. There are American fans who do get it. Who understand the nuances of the game and are embarrassed by how “their” World Cup is shaping up. These tend to be supporters who have taken the time to understand and embrace European football culture, rather than viewing the tournament purely through a commercial lens
There are no fan lobbying bodies with meaningful leverage in the US, leaving leagues and organisers largely free to charge what they like. Football, however, has historically been different. Supporter groups such as the Football Supporters’ Association and Football Supporters Europe have repeatedly pushed back when prices have gone too far, working to protect affordability and a diverse, loyal match-going fanbase
A clear example came in the Premier League when clubs began charging up to £85 for away tickets. Coordinated protests targeted not only clubs and governing bodies but, crucially, sponsors, drawing attention to the reputational risk of being associated with a body seen to be actively exploiting its core supporters – the very fans those organisations pay millions to connect with. That pressure eventually forced a reversal, with the Premier League introducing a £30 cap on away ticket prices, proving that organised fan resistance can still restore much-needed balance to the game
Of course I understand that there is room for many types of supporter at football. And yes there has to be a range of price points to suit different fans. The issue here is one of balance. At this World Cup, access to affordable tickets has been squeezed making them even further out of reach. This has been exacerbated by small allocations to fans of qualifying teams and leaving many supporters feeling squeezed out entirely
World Cups have never been cheap. Fans have always had to budget for tickets, travel and accommodation. But historically, attending was seen as attainable. In Russia, Brazil and South Africa, high flight costs were offset by affordable tickets, food and drink, and vibrant local fan cultures. Fans could structure trips to suit their means – whether staying in campsites or modest hotels – and still be part of the tournament. Participation wasn’t easy, but it certainly wasn’t out of reach
What is being overlooked here is that the World Cup is not a franchise event or a premium entertainment product. It is a global celebration built on diverse, travelling fanbases. Those fans are the reason the World Cup became what it is. Excluding them doesn’t elevate the tournament — it strips it of what makes it special
In the end, it comes down to quality over quantity
As I was finishing this article, FIFA made a significant U-turn, announcing that 10% of tickets – around 400 per match – will now be made available to each participating nation’s supporters at a reduced price of $60. These are not additional tickets but are taken from existing national allocations, meaning the underlying issues remain and still only a minute proportion of fans will gain access to more affordable tickets
Whilst this is obviously a token gesture, it does also represent movement in the right direction from a governing body that appears to have been blindsided by the scale of the backlash from fans around the world
But it is nowhere near enough. And whilst FIFA is on the defensive, this is the moment for supporters across the globe to apply sustained pressure on FIFA and its sponsors – pushing for larger national allocations and a meaningful increase in affordable tickets for the loyal, match-going fanbases that have long been the lifeblood of the World Cup
Fan quality, which is inevitably sacrificed when ever-increasing revenue is prioritised by organisers, is what keeps football a sport for the people
Lose that, and no amount of money in the coffers will be able to replace what’s gone
