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EU Receives Fan Complaint Over FIFA’s World Cup Ticket Prices

The review could test how far EU consumer rules reach companies selling to Europeans outside the bloc.

Overview

  • Football Supporters Europe and Euroconsumers, which filed an 18-page complaint Tuesday in Brussels, accuse FIFA of abusing its control of ticket sales to set excessive prices and use opaque buying rules.
  • The European Commission confirmed receipt and said it will examine the case under normal procedures, while the groups seek interim measures before the tournament starts in June.
  • FIFA announced Wednesday that a final, first-come public sale opens April 1 with seat selection, and it said more than one million tickets were sold in the previous release.
  • FIFA defends demand-based dynamic pricing as a response to extraordinary interest, and it told the Associated Press it had not formally received the complaint.
  • Fans point to sticker shock, with the cheapest openly available final seats at $4,185 and some resale listings hitting six figures, while a small batch of $60 tickets proved scarce and resale rules differ across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.