World Cup ticket prices are hideously, unforgivably expensive ...Middle East

The 2026 World Cup begins in six months, and the financial reality of the tournament is finally starting to dawn on football supporters.

For all the myriad issues with Qatar, ticket prices were actually pretty reasonable. For all the myriad issues with Uefa, their pricing policy for the European Championship is roughly fair.

As you’ll find out, the same is not true for the upcoming World Cup…

The ticket prices are disgraceful, right?

That is the only obvious conclusion. This week, the Football Association announced prices for their friendly at Wembley: members of the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) will pay £25 to sit behind the goal. So far, so normal.

Also this week, the Croatian FA revealed the prices for the country’s matches at the World Cup, as determined by Fifa and the tournament organisers.

England have not released their own information yet, but prices are likely to be the same or higher. The Croatian “value” supporter tickets are $265 (£198) for the group game, the standard tickets are $500 (£374) and the premium are $700 (£523). For one group game.

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I found the cheapest way to attend England's World Cup matches - it costs £2,228

It gets worse in the knockouts. The lowest category tickets for official Croatia supporters for the final (and England will be the same or higher) cost $4,185 (£3,125). A ticket in the same part of the ground as that Uruguay friendly in March (i.e. behind the goal at one end) will be $8,680 (£6,466), or roughly 259 times as much. Read that sentence again. This is a scandal.

Are there any other options?

Supporters do not have to take up the official tickets, but do if they want a guaranteed seat for each of England’s games. The other option is to try and get tickets on general sale for each match, as per the public. And there’s a chance that those prices could go lower than the initial price, if the demand is low.

There are three issues with that: 1) supporters would be sat in a neutral section, 2) if those tickets are sold out then you can’t go to the game at all, 3) England games are highly unlikely to go at a reduced price. It just means someone who has been to multiple England tournaments, in the official club, would miss out.

How long do fans have to save up?

This is the thing that should make you really angry. Not only are the ticket prices absolutely vast, but you also have to buy them in a job lot to guarantee being there.

You’re a member of the ESTC and you want to go to every game that England will play in North America. You are forced to buy tickets for all of the matches – eight including the final – at a rough cost of $5,000 (£3,725) even though you don’t know if England will be in them.

That includes both the final and the third-fourth place playoff, even though England can’t play in both.

And you have to pay for all of that up front, probably in February next year. At Uefa tournaments, money is taken round by round; not here. If England are eliminated before the final, supporters will get the remaining matches refunded. Will that include a handling fee? Probably.

And…this is just the tickets?

That’s an important point to make, yes. Accommodation prices are already inflated in World Cup cities, as are international and domestic flights. Public transport is non-existent in many areas of many host cities, so matchday travel may well require expensive taxis.

Once in the ground, food, drink and merchandise will be on sale at exorbitant prices and there will be limitations on what you can take in. Prices are likely to increase in cities away from the stadium because there is a captive audience.

One ESTC member The i Paper spoke to is simply not able to pay for the whole tournament and this would be the first competitive game that he has missed in years. He estimates that the cost for the tournament – tickets, accommodation, travel and living expenses – would be at least 15,000 for eight matches, assuming he got the “value” category tickets. He cannot afford that and he could not justify it even if he could.

We also priced up a 13-day trip for England’s group games alone, and the cheapest – including a two-day bus and staying in dorms – option was still north of £2,000.

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Has the game finally gone?

Yessir. Watching your country play shouldn’t be the pursuit solely of the super-rich. Fifa shouldn’t charge prices on what they can to squeeze the most out of loyal supporters, but what is reasonable. This is so far beyond the pale that it has to cause a line in the sand.

There are reports of national Football Associations being unhappy with the pricing structure. Football Supporters Europe, an organisation that represents supporters, has called for the immediate cessation of ticket selling to examine how it can be acceptable for supporters to be exploited so emphatically. Perhaps a strong collective response may force some change.

Call me a cynic, but nothing will change. Even if there is a slight climbdown, the trend is set in stone. They have taken our game and they are trying to sell it back to us at an eye-watering cost.

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