Public pressure has forced Fifa to introduce a cheaper ticket tier for the fast-approaching 2026 soccer World Cup. This revision will see a selected number of supporters from various qualified countries pay just $60 (approximately) for matches at the tournament. About three years ago, Fifa president Gianni Infantino delivered a moving monologue on the importance of inclusivity.
Infantino’s speech came amid criticism of 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar and their poor record when it came to human rights issues. “Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African.
Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker” Infantino said in November 2022.
Read Full Article on Daily Maverick
[paywall]
“Of course I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it. Because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country.
As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian. So, imagine,” said the Swiss-Italian. How ironic then that he would head the organising of a World Cup campaign that has all the hallmarks of being one of the most exclusionary in history.
From exorbitant ticket prices to the US government’s super stringent foreign policy, the upcoming tournament seems to go against everything Infantino said three years ago. Fifa has of course moved to somewhat reduce the pricey tickets, even though in the grander scheme of things this World Cup is set to be the costliest in history. As an example, in Qatar one could expect to pay $220 for a tier-one ticket in the group stages.
In the US, Mexico and Canada co-hosted showpiece the minimum price for the top-tier tickets is double that. Under the dynamic pricing model, these prices are not even fixed. The ticket prices will increase or decrease based on the demand for a specific match.
A match featuring legends Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, for instance, could trigger a surge in ticket prices across tiers at the 48-team tournament. However, after consistent public backlash for these prices, Fifa has announced that it will allocate an unspecified number of cheap tickets to federations of participating nations such as the South African Football Association (Safa) for supporters of Bafana Bafana. This tier of tickets, the fourth and lowest tier – will be capped at $60 (about R1,000) for every match.
“The newly introduced Supporter Entry Tier will be available at the fixed price of $60 per ticket for each of the 104 matches, including the final,” Fifa said. “The entry-tier tickets will be allocated specifically to supporters of qualified teams, with the selection and distribution process managed individually by the Participating Member Associations (PMAs). Each PMA will define its own eligibility criteria and application process.
They are requested to ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams,” Fifa stated. So, if a supporter’s team navigates all the way to the final, they will spend $480 (approximately R8,000), according to Fifa. Various publications have indicated that the tickets allocated to the federations will be fewer than 1,000 for each nation.
This means the majority of those hoping to watch the tournament will have to contend with Fifa’s fluctuating prices. Within that, there are still travel and accommodation costs to consider, as Tom Greatrex, the chairperson of the UK-based Football Supporters’ Association, pointed out.
[/paywall]
