Touted to be the biggest one ever, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is turning into a celebration of football. So much so that the demand for the tickets has been incredible, with the event set to draw over 3 million spectators. Yet FIFA is currently facing a lawsuit and widespread criticism over the cost of World Cup tickets. It has forced Gianni Infantino’s hand, forcing the FIFA president to defend himself yet again.
Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference, Infantino believes the prices reflect the demand. That is despite an ongoing wave of criticism following the prices on their official resale website.
“If some people put on the resale market, some tickets for the final at $2m, number one, it doesn’t mean that the tickets cost $2m,” Infantino said at the conference, as per the Guardian. “And number two, it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy these tickets.
The FIFA president also jokingly added, “And if somebody buys a ticket for the final for $2m I will personally bring him a hot dog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience.”
All the criticism has stemmed from FIFA’s resale website recently listing four tickets to the final at $2.3 million each. It sparked a serious uproar among fans across social media, with many concerned that FIFA was taking advantage. So much so that the Football Supporters Europe (FSE) organisation even filed a lawsuit with the European Commission.
The class action consumer lawsuit lashed out at FIFA, calling the pricing structure a “monumental betrayal”. FSE didn’t just stop there, calling the current ticket prices “extortionate” as compared to what FIFA claimed they would be. This comes on the back of Infantino revealing that $60 tickets would be available for sale. Instead, FSE believes that the dynamic pricing put in place has increased that figure by more than threefold.
FIFA made a statement in September 2025, revealing that tickets would range from $60 (group stage) to $ 6,370 (final). But that was without accounting for dynamic pricing, which adjusts the ticket price based on popularity. FSE even differentiated between the prices of Euro 2024 and the cheapest ticket at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
As per the lawsuit, a ticket for the former would have costed approx $100, while a ticket for the latter is $4,185. In fact, per the complaint, that figure is seven times the price of the cheapest ticket at the 2022 World Cup.
It showcases the stark difference in pricing, although the resale price exceeds that by quite a lot. However, FIFA has no control over the asking price of the ticket on its official resale website. That’s even if they do take a 15% cut from each sale.
Thus, if a fan did buy that $2.3 million ticket for the final, FIFA would earn just $690k. Several fan groups have also hit out at the fact that the final’s original ticket price was just under $11k. To put that price in perspective, a ticket for the 2022 final was $1,600. It marks a nearly 10x increase, although Infantino believes the steep price rise is justified by market conditions.
“We have to look at the market – we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates,” Infantino added. “In the US, it is permitted to resell tickets as well.”
“So if you were to sell tickets at a price that is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price. And as a matter of fact, even though some people are saying that the ticket prices we have are high, they still end up on the resale market at an even higher price, more than double our price.”
However, all of this stems from FIFA’s attempt to do everything. That is something Infantino admitted, as he believes FIFA needs to be able to strike a balance.
Gianni Infantino reveals FIFA is trying to find the right balance
As a non-profit organisation, FIFA is often solely dependent on the revenue it earns and on donations. However, FIFA doesn’t have too many revenue-generating events, with the Club World Cup a newly created source of income. Thus, their main source is the World Cup, even though it takes place only once every four years.
It has led FIFA to explore multiple avenues, but Infantino and previous presidents have all struggled to keep things going. Furthermore, FIFA also has to distribute revenue among its 200-plus member nations. That only adds to their burden, forcing the organisation’s hand. That is exactly what Gianni Infantino pointed out at the Semafor World Economy 2026 Annual Convening.
“The main, and so far the only, revenue-generating event for FIFA is the World Cup,” Infantino said, as per The Athletic. “The World Cup takes place one month every four years, so we generate money in one month. The 47 months until the next World Cup, we spend that money.
“What many people don’t know, because of course we generate billions in a World Cup, people don’t know FIFA is a non-profit organisation, which means all the revenue we generate, we invest in the organisation of the game, in 211 countries all over the world.
“Three quarters of which probably would not be able to have organised football without the grants we could give them, so we always try to find the right balance.”
Yet while Gianni Infantino continues to defend the numbers as a reflection of demand and necessity, it’s clear not everyone buys that. Only time will tell how fans and FIFA react to the criticism and Infantino’s latest comments.
