FIFA President Gianni Infantino defends 2026 World Cup ticket prices, citing 150 million requests in two weeks and stressing revenues fund global football.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended the 2026 World Cup ticket pricing strategy following significant fan criticism.
Speaking at the World Sports Summit, Infantino revealed organisers received a staggering 150 million ticket requests in just the past two weeks.
He stressed that all revenues from the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada would be reinvested into football development worldwide.
ALSO READ: FIFA adds $60 World Cup tickets after fan backlash over high prices
Infantino’s comments mark his first public address since fan groups labelled the prices “extortionate” and “astronomical” earlier this month.
“In the last few days, you’ve probably seen there is a lot of debate about ticketing and ticket prices,” Infantino told the conference.
“We have six, seven million tickets on sale and we started two weeks ago.”
He stated the majority of requests came from the United States, followed by Germany and Britain.
“If you think that in 100 years of history of the World Cup, FIFA has sold 44 million tickets in total, so in two weeks for the next World Cup, we could have filled 300 years of World Cups,” Infantino said.
“This is absolutely crazy.”
The FIFA President emphasised the organisation’s role in funding the sport globally.
“What is important, what is crucial is that the revenues that are generated from this are going back to the game all over the world,” he added.
“Without FIFA there will be no football in 150 countries in the world.”
Fan group Football Supporters Europe (FSE) was a prominent critic, stating tickets would cost almost five times more than for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
FIFA later responded to the backlash by announcing a portion of tickets would be priced at USD 60. – AFP
