A coalition of football supporters and consumer rights advocates has officially filed a lawsuit against FIFA with the European Commission, accusing the sport’s world governing body of imposing “excessive ticket prices” for the upcoming 2026 World Cup finals.
The formal complaint was filed on Tuesday by the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) group in partnership with Euroconsumers.
The groups allege that FIFA has abused its monopoly over ticket sales for the highly anticipated tournament, which is scheduled to take place across the United States, Canada, and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
“Euroconsumers and Football Supporters Europe (FSE) have filed a formal complaint with the European Commission against FIFA, alleging that the football body has abused its monopoly position to impose excessive ticket prices and opaque and unfair purchasing conditions and processes on European fans ahead of the 2026 World Cup,” the FSE stated.
The advocacy group further argued that FIFA is exploiting its singular control over the event to the detriment of fans.
“FIFA holds a monopoly over ticket sales for the 2026 World Cup and has used that power to impose conditions on fans that would never be acceptable in a competitive market,” the statement read.
According to the FSE, the cost of attending the 2026 final has skyrocketed compared to previous tournaments.
“The cheapest openly available final tickets now start at $4,185—more than seven times the cost of the cheapest 2022 World Cup final ticket,” the group pointed out, contrasting this with the cheapest UEFA Euro 2024 final tickets which were priced at just 95 euros ($100).
“FIFA’s own bid documents projected an average ticket price of $1,408, but that number has been left far behind.”
The 2026 World Cup is set to be the first expanded edition featuring 48 teams playing a total of 104 matches.
FIFA has made nearly seven million tickets available, with purchases capped at four per match and 40 for the entire competition per person.
While the North American bid initially promised tickets from as low as $21, the FSE noted that the cheapest available tickets actually started at $60.
Furthermore, most tickets for matches involving leading nations cost a minimum of $200. The $60 tickets, which FIFA repeatedly advertised, were reserved strictly for fans of qualified teams and accounted for just 10 percent of each national federation’s allotment.
“In practice, they were so scarce that the entire Category 4 inventory was practically sold out before general public sales opened,” the FSE explained.
The controversy is largely centered around the use of “dynamic pricing,” a practice where ticket costs fluctuate based on market demand.
While FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended the system, stating that “prices will go up or down depending on the match in question,” critics argue the practice lacks transparency and a price ceiling.
“FIFA used ‘variable pricing,’ or dynamic pricing, with no cap and no transparency on how prices are set,” the FSE argued. “Some tickets rose 25% between sales phases. Fans had no clear way of knowing the final price before joining the queue.”
The situation is further exacerbated on FIFA’s official resale site, where an unregulated fan-to-fan market allows resellers to set their own prices.
One category three seat for the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was recently advertised for a staggering $143,750, over 41 times its original face value of $3,450.
While the resale market remains largely unregulated in the US and Canada, Mexico prohibits reselling tickets above face value, though this restriction only applies to purchases made within the country using local currency.
