Gianni Infantino and FIFA are being criticized for their pricing policy for World Cup tickets. The President defends himself in Dubai by citing the high demand.
30.12.2025, 12:25
30.12.2025, 12:39
SDA
Gianni Infantino defended the exorbitant prices of tickets for the 2026 World Cup on Monday, explaining that the organizers had received a record 150 million requests in the last two weeks.
"In the last few days you have probably seen that there is a lot of discussion about ticket sales and ticket prices," Gianni Infantino said at the World Sports Summit in Dubai in his first comments since this controversy began earlier this month.
"We have six, seven million tickets on sale and we started two weeks ago. I can tell you that in two weeks, 15 days, we have received 150 million ticket requests. That shows how powerful the World Cup is," he said happily, specifying that most of the requests came from the United States, Germany and Great Britain.
"This is absolutely crazy," added the head of the football association.
Fan clubs described the prices for the World Cup, which begins in June in the USA, Canada and Mexico, as "exorbitant" and "astronomical". Fan organizations also voiced harsh criticism of the fact that, for the first time in the history of a World Cup, fans with disabilities will have to pay the regular price for tickets for an accompanying person without any concessions. Depending on the category, each ticket for the final will cost over 8,000 dollars (around CHF 6,300). Infantino did not comment on the fact that this policy excludes a large number of people from this event.
FIFA's only response to the criticism was to announce a range of tickets at a price of 60 dollars (47 CHF). According to its website, this price applies to group matches. In the final, the cheapest tickets will go on sale for 6730 dollars (5310 CHF), with these prices increasing many times over on FIFA-tolerated resale platforms.
