Having been pictured at various points alongside Vladimir Putin, Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump, it seems fair to suggest that Gianni Infantino is not a man preoccupied with PR.
The Fifa president has largely been impervious to how the next World Cup is going to look. With seven months to go, it is riddled with fears of ICE raids in the host cities, attacks on immigrants and travel bans affecting visitors from some of the countries who are supposed to be playing in it.
Then there are the tickets, the most expensive in World Cup history, now mitigated by a smattering of £45 options. They account for just 10 per cent of each nation’s tickets, so for England’s most in-demand group match against Croatia, they would only be available to about 400 people.
There are only two possible reasons for their sudden introduction. The first is the footballing equivalent of putting lipstick on a pig, a panicked, last-ditch attempt to mask Fifa’s greed. It is a response to the backlash from people around the world, as well as from national associations including the English FA.
A few cheap(ish) tickets do not detract from the fact that even the most mundane group games cost hundreds of pounds; to attend the final, it will set you back £3,125.
Millions of ordinary fans will be priced out and experts fear others will inadvisably place themselves in debt. Attending the World Cup, even with a £45 ticket, is still wildly unaffordable to many people. The same people are already having to pay thousands up-front to travel to a country into which they might not even gain entry, thanks to draconian new laws monitoring visitors’ social media.
The second reason for Fifa’s climbdown is more pragmatic. At the prospect of empty stadiums, or having to give away freebies to MAGA faithfuls to fill the grounds, they have lost their nerve. Sources close to the ticketing process believe even the touts are not bothering to buy up, for fear that they will not be able to shift them. The locals are not interested in football at the best of times, much less for Uzbekistan vs Jamaica.
You also have to buy tickets in bulk, including for games your country has not yet qualified for – when they are knocked out, you are then refunded the money. To park the car, resale sites are selling parking lots for up to £1,500 per game.
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There is still the vague hope that the number of affordable tickets will be increased if there is enough political pressure – Sir Keir Starmer has insisted there are not nearly enough £45 tickets and has called on Fifa to print more.
But wherever they go from here, Fifa has revealed its hand and it is one marked both with needless avarice and lack of interest in the heritage of the World Cup – or the atmosphere the next one produces.
The one upside is that Fifa’s U-turn is a rare triumph for fan power, if only a small one, and shows what might be achieved when there is a coordinated voice against the bureaucrats who govern the game. With apologies to co-hosts Canada and Mexico, there is no real optimism that the whole tournament will not be faintly ridiculous – but at least a few hundred more fans might be there to see it.
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