After announcing in 2017 that the World Cup would expand from 32 teams to 48, Fifa president Gianni Infantino said the goal was to make global sport’s most popular tournament more inclusive. “It’s time to open to the world,” he said at the time.
Yet after ticket prices were revealed last week for the newly expanded event next year across the US, Canada and Mexico, football’s governing body faced a fierce backlash from fans complaining they were being shut out.
Prices for the World Cup final start at $4,185, rising to $5,575 for “standard” seats and $8,680 for “premium”. Tickets for early group stage matches run into hundreds of dollars and are in some cases more than three times higher than at the last tournament in Qatar in 2022.