Gianni Infantino has defended the pricing of World Cup 2026 tickets after sustained criticism from fan organisations, arguing that Fifa was obliged to operate within a US market that permits secondary resale at many multiples of face value. The Guardian first reported Infantino's remarks in full, in which the Fifa president described the pricing structure as justified by local law rather than by any deliberate policy of exclusion.
The figures involved are extraordinary by any measure. According to Sky Sports, tickets for the World Cup final are currently listed on the resale market for as much as £8.4m. Infantino's response to the $2m price point, as reported by BBC Sport, was to promise he would personally deliver a hot dog and a Coke to anyone who paid it — a remark that landed poorly with the supporters' groups already pursuing legal action against Fifa.
Football Supporters Europe, a pan-European fan organisation, filed a lawsuit with the European Commission in March, the Guardian reports. FSE has described the pricing structure as "extortionate" and called it a "monumental betrayal". The organisation's complaint centres on what it considers excessive ticket prices for a tournament that Fifa consistently presents as a celebration of the global game.
One detail in the Guardian's account gives the row a particular edge: Fifa collects a 30% cut from the resale market. That figure complicates the argument that sky-high resale prices are simply a consequence of American commercial law operating independently of Fifa's own interests. Critics will note that the governing body is not a passive bystander to the secondary market but a direct financial beneficiary of it.
The 2026 tournament is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with the final scheduled to be played in the United States. Staging the showpiece fixture in the American market, where ticket scalping is legal and largely unregulated, has given Fifa a degree of legal cover for its position — but legal permissibility and moral acceptability are not the same argument, and the lawsuit filed by FSE suggests that European regulators may be invited to examine the distinction. Whether Infantino's remarks help or harden that case is likely to become clearer as the tournament approaches.