FIFA Lowers Some World Cup Ticket Prices After Criticism, How Much Will Tickets Cost?

FIFA has come under heavy criticism for its ticket prices ahead of the 2025 World Cup, with the organization adopting a "dynamic pricing" model for the first time—alongside the rising costs once those tickets hit FIFA's resale platform—that had seen the cost to attend the event skyrocket.

On Tuesday, however, FIFA announced that a number of $60 tickets will be made available for each game in the World Cup through the federations featured in those games. That stands in stark contract to the previous lowest tier of tickets for games that didn't involve the host nations of the United States, Canada and Mexico, which ranged from $120 to $265. And tickets for the World Cup Final ranged between $4,185 and $8,680.

According to ESPN, "The number of $60 tickets for each game is likely to be in the hundreds, rather than thousands, in what FIFA is now calling a 'Supporter Entry Tier' price category."

The resale market has particularly gotten out of hand. Henry Bushnell and Adam Crafton of The Athletic noted that in the past, "FIFA capped resale prices at face value and took smaller fees—10 percent or less."

But FIFA isn't capping resale prices this time around on its marketplace and is charging both buyers and sellers a 15 percent fee. The result has been prices for tickets shooting into the thousands and tens of thousands.

FIFA has made the argument that even had they capped resale prices on their own marketplace, sellers could have simply made their tickets available on platforms like StubHub. But the 15 percent "Resale Fee" and 15 percent "Purchase Fee" has only driven up prices more.

And the initial list prices for tickets, before they reach the resale market, are "in some cases more than twice as expensive as equivalent prices at previous World Cups, even after adjusting for inflation," according to Bushnell and Crafton.

That has caused a backlash, especially in Europe, and it's unlikely that Tuesday's allotment of cheaper tickets will completely alleviate those concerns, or concerns over the lack of a different pricing structure or complementary companion tickets for fans with disabilities.

"For the moment we are looking at the FIFA announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash," fan organization Football Supporters Europe said in a statement. "We call upon FIFA to engage in a proper dialogue to arrive at a solution that respects the contribution of fans and the dignity of fans with disa