Overview
- FIFA says around five million ticket requests arrived in the first 24 hours of the current lottery phase, which remains open until January 13 with applications from more than 200 countries.
- Published price bands show sharp increases versus recent tournaments, with final tickets listed at $4,185 to $8,680 and some group-stage seats running into four figures, such as USA–Paraguay at up to $2,735.
- Football Supporters Europe and national fan bodies condemn the costs as extortionate and urge FIFA to halt or review sales and allocations, calling the approach a betrayal of loyal traveling supporters.
- FIFA states it is using variable pricing across sales phases rather than real-time dynamic pricing during the main ballot, a policy critics say fuels confusion and higher costs.
- Scotland manager Steve Clarke warned fans not to go into debt as media and fan calculations show full-trip budgets reaching tens of thousands of pounds, while FIFA’s official resale platform adds 15% fees to buyers and 15% to sellers.