Camille Naredo

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the Extraordinary FIFA Congress 2024 at the Home of FIFA on December 11, 2024 in Zurich, Switzerland.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - DECEMBER 11: FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the Extraordinary FIFA Congress 2024 at the Home of FIFA on December 11, 2024 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Harold Cunningham/FIFA)

Article (news)

FIFA

Agence France-Presse

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Monday defended controversial ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, revealing that organizers had received a record 150 million requests for tickets in the past two weeks.Speaking at the World Sports Summit in Dubai, Infantino stressed that all revenues from next year&#x27;s tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada would be pumped back into football around the world.Infantino&#x27;s comments were his first public remarks since the ticketing furor erupted earlier this month, with fan groups branding ticket prices as &quot;extortionate&quot; and &quot;astronomical&quot;.<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/12/13/fan-group-urges-fifa-to-halt-world-cup-ticket-sales-over-incomprehensible-prices-0912">READ: Fan group urges FIFA to halt World Cup ticket sales over &#x27;incomprehensible&#x27; prices</a></div>FIFA later responded to the criticism by announcing that a sliver of tickets on sale would be priced at $60.&quot;In the last few days, you&#x27;ve probably seen there is a lot of debate about ticketing and ticket prices,&quot; Infantino told the Dubai conference on Monday.&quot;We have six, seven million tickets on sale and we started two weeks ago. I can tell you in two weeks, 15 days, we received 150 million ticket requests. This shows how powerful the World Cup is.&quot;Infantino said the majority of ticket requests had come from the United States, followed by requests from Germany and Britain.&quot;If you think that in 100 years of the history of the World Cup, FIFA has sold 44 million tickets in total, so in two weeks for the next World Cup, we could have filled 300 years of World Cups,&quot; Infantino said. &quot;This is absolutely crazy.&quot;&quot;And what is important, what is crucial is that the revenues that are generated from this are going back to the game all over the world and FIFA is the only organization in the world...that finances football in the entire world.&quot;Without FIFA there will be no football in 150 countries in the world. There is football thanks to these revenues that we generate from the World Cup which we reinvest all over the world.&quot;<div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/sports/othersports/2025/12/26/too-hot-to-handle-searing-heat-looming-over-2026-world-cup-0957">READ: Too hot to handle? Searing heat looming over 2026 World Cup</a></div>Fan group Football Supporters Europe (FSE) had been among the most prominent critics of FIFA&#x27;s pricing strategy for 2026.The group said earlier this month tickets would cost almost five times more than tickets for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Monday defended controversial ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, revealing that organisers had received a record 150 million requests for tickets in the past two weeks.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Monday defended controversial ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, revealing that organisers had received a record 150 million requests for tickets in the past two weeks.

Infantino defends World Cup ticket prices, cites 'crazy' demand

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Infantino defends World Cup ticket prices, cites 'crazy' demand

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 30, 2025 11:17 AM PHT

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