Soccer fans have accused FIFA of a “monumental betrayal” after latest prices for World Cup tickets began to circulate on Thursday.
The governing body allocates 8 percent of tickets to national associations to sell for games involving their team.
A list published by the German soccer federation revealed prices ranged from US$180 to US$700 for group stage games. The lowest price for the final was US$4,185 and the highest was US$8,680.
Photo: AFP
The group-stage prices are very different from FIFA’s claims of US$60 tickets being available, while the target from US soccer officials when bidding for the tournament seven years ago was to offer hundreds of thousands of US$21 seats across the opening phase of games.
Fan organization Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described the prices unveiled on Thursday as “extortionate.”
“This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is,” it said in a statement.
The English Football Association shared pricing information with the England Supporters Travel Club on Thursday evening, which showed that if a fan bought a ticket for every game through to the final, it would cost just over US$7,000.
FIFA in September said that tickets released through its Web site would initially range from US$60 for group-stage matches to US$6,730 for the final.
However, those prices are subject to change as it adopts dynamic pricing for the first time at the World Cup.
FIFA tickets are available in four categories, with the best seats in Category 1.
In the price list published by the German federation, there were only three categories.
The lowest priced ticket was US$180 for Germany’s opening group game against Curacao in Houston, Texas. The lowest price for a prospective semi-final was US$920, rising to US$1,125.
The FSE called on FIFA to immediately halt ticket sales via national associations “until a solution that respects the tradition, universality, and cultural significance of the World Cup is found.”
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