Supporter groups say soaring ticket prices threaten to turn 2026 tournament into ‘Corporate Games’.

Football’s leading fan organisations have demanded FIFA immediately stop selling tickets for next year’s World Cup, to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, warning that prices reaching nearly $9,000 for premium final seats will exclude supporters from the tournament.

Football Supporters Europe, which called the ticket pricing “extortionate”, issued the call on Thursday after national associations began circulating price lists showing costs up to seven times higher than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The group described the pricing structure as a “monumental betrayal” of the tournament’s traditions and called for urgent consultations before sales continue.

A fan attending every match next June and July from the group stage through the championship game faces costs of at least $6,900 via official supporter channels, based on price details released by Germany, England and Croatia’s football federations.

Premium tickets for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New York are priced at $8,680, compared with roughly $1,600 for the equivalent category in Qatar.

FIFA is already under the microscope in the wake of its President Gianni Infantino’s effusive praise for US President Donald Trump and the doling out by the world football governing body of an inaugural peace prize award to the US leader, who was infuriated to be bypassed for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

That has triggered a formal complaint over ethics violations and political neutrality. Human rights group FairSquare said on Tuesday that it has filed a complaint with FIFA’s ethics committee, claiming the organisation’s behaviour was against the common interests of the global football community.

The latest controversy comes as FIFA began its third phase of ticket sales, with variable pricing now applied to group stage matches based on what the governing body terms fixture “attractiveness”, though it has not explained how this is calculated.

England’s opening match against Croatia carries a $523 price tag for seats behind the goal, while Scotland supporters will pay less for comparable matches, creating what critics call an opaque two-tier system.

“For the prices that have been put up by FIFA, we’re a bit stunned,” Football Supporters Europe executive director Ronan Evain said.

He warned that final tickets approaching $4,000 would strip stadiums of the atmosphere that makes the tournament compelling, adding that “none of this will happen” at current pricing levels.

Henry Winter, a prominent football writer in the UK, cautioned that excluding passionate supporters who generate atmosphere risks turning the competition into what he termed the “Corporate Games,” potentially leaving broadcasters, who pay FIFA substantial sums, facing empty seats and muted crowds.

For fans travelling from outside North America, the financial burden extends far beyond tickets. Gary Al-Smith, who covers African football, noted that supporters “will fly in from outside the US, spend on lodging and feeding,” warning this would prove “one helluva costly World Cup for fans”.

The pricing represents a dramatic departure from FIFA’s 2018 bid document for the tournament across the US, Canada and Mexico, which projected group stage tickets starting at $21.

FIFA has excluded the cheapest ticket tier from supporter group allocations entirely, holding back category four seats from public sale where fluctuating demand-based pricing will apply.