Fifa have received an enormous amount of backlash after
revealing how much money fans will have to fork out to watch their country play
in the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico next summer.
The Scandal
The table above shows what the Football Supporters’ Association
(FSA) refer to as “scandalous” ticket prices for England fans to attend next
summer’s World Cup games.
With the cheapest tickets priced at $220, it’s hard to
disagree with the FSA. A statement explained, “everything we feared about the
direction in which FIFA wants to take the game was confirmed.
“Gianni Infantino (President of Fifa) only sees supporter
loyalty as something to be exploited for profit.”
Taking England as an example, if you were to attend all
their games through to the final at the lowest ticket prices, it would cost you
$7020, compared to approximately $600 at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
The FSA added, “We back Football Supporters Europe in calling
for a halt in ticket sales and we are calling on the Football Association to
work with fellow FAs to directly challenge these disgraceful prices.”
The ‘Solution’
Since announcing these prices, Fifa have received heaps of backlash,
to the point where they have introduced a new, cheaper category of prices
coming in at $60 for all 104 matches of the tournament.
A Fifa official stated, “we have listened to feedback, and
this new category is the right thing to do.”
This is far from a perfect solution to the problem, with these
tickets being allocated to just 10% of the tickets available for each football
association.
Keeping England as the example, this means that these $60
tickets will be available for around 400 fans for the group stage matches.
Many fans believe that this is just an attempt to salvage
Fifa’s public relations after facing an incredible amount of criticism from
fans and organisations alike across the globe.
I can’t help but agree with this stance as, despite a Fifa
official describing the decision to add cheaper tickets as “unanimous”, it was
a reactionary decision which they did not intend to make in the first place.
As a football fan with a budget far from what is required to
attend next summer’s World Cup, these ticket prices leave a sour taste in my
mouth knowing that thousands of fans will be fleeced and forced to fund the
greed of these billionaires and corporations.
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