Gianni Infantino responds to criticism for pricing of 2026 version highlighting ‘very particular’ US market as issue.
Revealed On 17 Apr 2026
FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended excessive ticket costs for this 12 months’s World Cup in North America by saying that the occasion, which captivates the globe, is the organisation’s solely supply of revenue each 4 years.
Talking at Semafor’s annual world financial system summit in New York on Friday, Infantino additionally reiterated that FIFA is a nonprofit organisation that has 211 nations as members.
Advisable Tales
listing of 4 gadgetsfinish of listing
“What many individuals don’t know, as a result of, after all, we generate billions in a World Cup, individuals don’t know FIFA is a nonprofit organisation, which implies all of the income we generate, we make investments them within the organisation of the sport, in 211 nations all around the world,” Infantino stated on stage throughout a Q&A session. “Three-quarters of [those countries] most likely wouldn’t be capable to have organised soccer with out the grants we may give them. So we at all times attempt to discover the appropriate stability.”
A test on the secondary-market ticket website StubHub on Friday confirmed that probably the most cheap ticket for the US’s World Cup opener on June 12 towards Paraguay was listed at $1,359, whereas tickets within the decrease bowl of the Los Angeles venue had been priced as excessive as $14,000 per seat.
For the World Cup closing within the New York space on July 19, a single ticket within the higher deck was priced at $8,860 and as a lot as $25,000 within the decrease bowl.
After preliminary complaints concerning the ticket costs and availability, FIFA launched a $60 choice that was a small portion of every venue.
“The primary, and to this point the one, revenue-generating occasion for FIFA is the World Cup,” Infantino stated. “The World Cup takes place one month each 4 years, so we generate cash in a single month. The 47 months till the subsequent World Cup, we spend that cash.”
Infantino referred to as North America “a really particular market,” and he stated he has been dwelling in the US for the previous two to a few years with a view to higher “perceive” the market.
A file 48 groups, organised in 12 teams of 4, are taking part in on this 12 months’s World Cup that may have video games in the US, Canada and Mexico. The event will encompass a file 104 matches.
