Supporters hoping to attend next year’s World Cup final face paying thousands of pounds for the cheapest ticket.
Fans’ group Football Supporters Europe has said it is “astonished” by Fifa’s “extortionate” pricing strategy, and called for ticket sales to be “halted immediately”.
Fifa has not yet commented on its pricing decisions.
BBC Sport understands tickets for the final MetLife Stadium, New York, are in three tiers:
-
‘Supporter value tier’ at £3,119 ($4,185).
-
‘Supporter standard tier’ at £4,162 ($5,560),
-
‘Supporter premium tier’ is £6,615 ($8,860)
Tickets to Fifa’s showpiece event are as much as seven times more expensive than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the lowest price ticket at that event costing £450.
Also, in a departure from recent tournaments, group stage games are priced based on the perceived popularity of the teams involved, rather than at a flat rate.
This means, for example, England fans face paying more than Scotland.
The England Supporters’ Travel Club (ESTC) called the prices a “slap in the face” for supporters.
Fifa has not provided details yet on how this “popularity” has been determined.
In Qatar, group stage fixtures had set prices of £68.50, £164.50 and £219.
But for England’s match against Croatia on 17 June, tickets cost £198, £373 or £523.
England v Ghana is £164, £320 and £447, with England v Panama £164, £346 and £462.
Scotland’s first two group games are cheaper than England’s.
Against Haiti the prices will be £134, £298 or £372, with Morocco set as £163, £320 and £447. The final group game against Brazil is priced the same as England v Croatia.
Quarter-finals for all teams are £507, £757 and £1,073, with the semi-finals £686, £1,819 and £2,363.
For the entire tournament through to the final, it will cost about £5,225 for one person to go to all eight matches, up to £8,580 in the mid-price range, or £12,357 for the top tier.
In 2022, it would have cost £1,466, £2,645 or £3,914, though that was for seven games rather than eight.
The details emerged as the main ticket ballot opened on Thursday afternoon.
On Monday, members of national supporters’ clubs will get the chance to enter a random draw for individual games, or to follow their team through to the final. There are about 4,000 tickets for each game available through the official supporters’ groups.
All other tickets are allocated through the ballot process, other than those held back by Fifa for corporate partners. Dynamic pricing is not being used in the main or national association ballots.