FIFA Faces Fan Fury Over New World Cup Ticket Pricing

FIFA is facing backlash after angering fans with the addition of more expensive ticket categories for the upcoming World Cup. The organization announced on Tuesday that it will release additional tickets for all 104 games at 11 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

The new “front category” pricing has sparked online complaints, with fans alleging that the better seats were withheld from the original categories they purchased. Tickets were initially priced between $140 for Category 3 in the first round and $8,680 for the final. Prices increased to as high as $10,990 when sales reopened on April 1.

Furthermore, ticket sales for certain games have been sluggish. The Athletic reported that, as of April 10, 40,934 tickets had been sold for the U.S. opener against Paraguay, whereas 50,661 were sold for the Iran-New Zealand match. FIFA expects SoFi's World Cup capacity to be around 69,650 but notes it may change.