Resale site denies secret World Cup ticket deal with Fifa amid pricing row | OneFootball

A prominent ticket resale platform has vehemently denied allegations of colluding with Fifa over World Cup tickets, following claims of unusual bulk sales appearing on its site.

Posts on X by Florian Ederer, a professor at Boston University Questrom School of Business, highlighted large blocks of tickets available on SeatGeek for the Saudi Arabia v Cape Verde match on 26 June. This contrasted sharply with the typical single, pair, or quartet of tickets usually found on resale platforms.

Professor Ederer alleged this indicated Fifa was "colluding with third-party resale platforms for its own supply management".

In response, a spokesperson for SeatGeek told the Press Association: "SeatGeek is a trusted marketplace that gives fans secure access to tickets across tens of thousands of live events, including the World Cup. We do not have a partnership or distribution agreement with Fifa."

Fifa has been contacted for comment regarding the claims.

The World Cup is due to get underway next week (Getty)

The social media posts further suggested that tickets appeared to be "dumped in bulk onto secondary markets, at prices below Fifa’s official site".

The rationale, it was claimed, might be to avoid demands for refunds or charge-backs if ticket prices were subsequently lowered on the primary, official ticketing site.

This controversy adds to the barrage of criticism Fifa has already faced over its World Cup ticket pricing and the decision to adopt a dynamic pricing strategy. Fifa also operates its own official resale platform, which takes a 15 per cent cut from both the seller and the buyer of each ticket.

Last month, Fifa president Gianni Infantino defended the pricing, stating it was justified for the North American market.

"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 said at a conference in Beverly Hills.

The World Cup is now only just over a week away, with the first match due to be played between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa on 11 June.

England’s first match of the tournament will be against 2018 finalists Croatia in Dallas, Texas, on 17 June.