European supporter groups have lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission accusing FIFA of excessive World Cup ticket prices and unfair sales practices.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) said the cheapest openly available tickets for the final now start at about $4,185 (roughly €3,400) — more than seven times the cost of the cheapest final ticket in 2022. FSE described FIFA’s pricing and distribution as an “abuse of its monopoly position,” arguing that loyal fans are being forced to “pay up or lose out” because they have few alternatives.
Secondary marketplaces have listed single final-match seats for extraordinarily high sums, with platforms such as Viagogo and SeatPick showing prices up to €163,000 (about $190,000). Resale rules differ by host country: Mexico outlaws resale above face value for tickets purchased domestically in local currency, while the United States and Canada generally operate largely unregulated resale markets.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the pricing approach as reflecting demand and the use of “dynamic pricing,” a system that adjusts ticket costs up or down depending on demand for specific matches. FSE countered that dynamic pricing as applied here lacks clear safeguards and places no effective cap on extreme increases.
Last year FIFA introduced a Category 4 ticket priced at $60 (€52), allocating those seats as 10% of each qualifying team’s share and leaving national associations to prioritize distribution to loyal supporters. FSE says those low-cost tickets were so limited they were “practically sold out before general public sales opened.” The supporters’ group also noted that FIFA’s own bid documents projected an average ticket price of about $1,400 per seat, a figure now far exceeded by current market listings.
Consumer lobby group Euroconsumers has joined FSE in urging the European Commission to intervene, seeking interim measures to stop what they call exploitative practices ahead of the 2026 tournament. The Commission confirmed it has received the complaint and will evaluate it under normal procedures. Although the 2026 World Cup will be hosted in North America, EU authorities say they can assess FIFA’s ticketing practices because they affect European consumers. No timeline has been set for the review.
The 2026 World Cup, which begins on June 11, will expand to 48 teams and 104 matches, making it the largest edition to date. Despite the steep prices, demand appears strong: FIFA reported that a recent sales phase received more than half a billion ticket requests for the expanded tournament.
Editor: Sean Sinico