Hundreds of tickets are still available for England’s World Cup opener against Croatia next Wednesday, potentially causing more embarrassment to FIFA.
The governing body have faced heavy criticism for the high price of tickets for matches at the tournament, with supporter groups claiming ordinary fans have been excluded due to the extortionate costs.
FIFA have repeatedly defended their position and boasted about an ‘unprecedented’ 500 million booking requests, yet they were forced to bring some prices down in an attempt to entice more supporters to the US, Canada and Mexico.
But the opening night of the tournament was marred by large swathes of empty seats at South Korea’s match with Czechia in Guadalajara – and this could be the case for several other games.
This includes England’s clash against Croatia in Texas next week, with hundreds of tickets still available on official and unofficial resale platforms.
The lowest price for a ticket is $867 (£648), with fans able to go all the way up to $9,225 (£6,900) for a ticket and meal package that has access to a VIP lounge.
England may play their World Cup opener against Croatia in front of hundreds of empty seats
On several resale websites, hundreds of tickets are still available at sky-high prices
Meanwhile, hospitality tickets on the FIFA website range from $2,430 (£1,811) to $3,150 (£2,347).
The $2,430 ticket comes in the ‘Champions Club’ and it is described as: ‘Featuring Preferred Seating view seats located just steps from exclusive, vibrant hospitality spaces that offer premium beverage service and full-course dining, available pre and post-match.’
On another resale website, tickets for England’s second group game against Ghana in Boston range from £423 all the way to £4,354.
For the following match against Panama, the lowest price for a ticket via resale is £513, rising up to £6,678.
Speaking ahead of the tournament at a press conference, Infantino insisted the average price of tickets was below $500, and defended his organisation by saying the cost was comparable to what it was to attend big matches in US sports.
He added: ‘If you sell it at a lower price point, in this particular market it would have gone – which is perfectly legal in this country… in secondary markets at much, much, much higher prices and where would the money go then?
‘Well, to those who organise secondary markets or black market activities and not to football.
‘If we are doing something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong, as well.’
Meanwhile, a report in the Financial Times earlier this week suggested almost 180,000 tickets for the group stage are still available on official resale platforms.
The report added that around 4,400 tickets were on the platform for the USA’s opening game against Paraguay on Saturday morning (GMT), with the cheapest ticket available directly from FIFA costing $1,120 (£838.20).
Fans can enjoy hospitality for the Croatia game, but only if they are willing to spend a minimum of $2,348 (£1,811), which gets you a spot in the Champions Club
There were large swathes of empty seats at Czechia’s game with South Korea in Guadalajara
Tickets for some of the least popular group stage matches remain on sale for more than $300 (£223).
Ticket prices also don’t include the wider costs associated with attending the tournament, including travel and accommodation across North America.
During South Korea’s game with Czechia on Thursday, the stadium in Guadalajara in the west of Mexico was not full.
The stadium announcer claimed the 45,664-capacity ground had 44,985 people inside.
Yet TV coverage showed swathes of empty seats, particularly in VIP areas – far more than the 700-or-so that FIFA claimed were not taken in a city with 5.6million residents alone.
