A World Cup ticket that initially would have cost England fans £45 is priced at over £1,700.
FIFA’s official World Cup resale site is seeing tickets for England vs Croatia in Dallas sold at 38 times more than their face value. The tickets are rated as Category 4 games – one of the few that had seats priced at £45 initially.
According to The Times, fans can sell tickets on the site in compliance with United States law, and there is no limit on the fee they can ask for.
FIFA will also find themselves up, given it is their official site. A 15 per cent ‘resale facilitation fee’ – which will be more than £255 for the £1,700-priced tickets – will go to the governing body.
They will also receive another 15 per cent from the seller plus the original price of the ticket – which will take the total fee to £555 per ticket.
It is reported that the English FA have said the £45 tickets are not supporter entry tier that have been made available to official supporter groups.
England fans will now have to fork out more than £1,700 for a ticket to their side’s World Cup opener against Croatia
It marks the latest downer of a string of moves from FIFA around ticket pricing that has drawn criticism from fans.
The first open ticket sale for this summer’s World Cup final has shown that FIFA is selling what is thought to be the most expensive general admission to a match in the history of football.
FIFA are charging supporters up to $10,990 (£8,333) for the privilege of watching the tournament’s showpiece at the MetLife Stadium on Sunday, July 19.
This price is a 38 per cent increase from the $8,680 (£6,581) that was advertised as the most expensive ticket during the members’ sale in December, when each country’s official supporters’ club were given early access.
The pricing system put in place by FIFA is variable, with the cost of tickets fluctuating based on demand, which remains high.
Wednesday night’s open sale for the final, and 17 of the 72 group matches, also disclosed that Category 2 tickets had risen 32 per cent to $7,380 (£5,596), and Category 3 tickets were now priced at $5,785 (£4,386), a 38 per cent increase.
The top three category prices are all substantially higher than the cost of the most expensive seat at the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, contested by Argentina and France, which was the equivalent of $1,604 (£1,214).
Though ticket resale in the United States is legal, the FA are looking to distribute tickets for England’s games as late as possible to limit the possibility of them being resold.
