The great World Cup rip-off: How record-high football prices expose Fifa’s biggest issue | OneFootball

Gianni Infantino has already been hailing 2026 as the best World Cup ever. Unsurprising; Fifa always do this, regardless of the reality, but there’s one element beyond doubt. It’ll be the most expensive. By far. Estimated costs for fans following their team through to the final range from $10,000 to $35,000. That’s including tickets, trains, the lot.

For the fifth episode of Copa Independent, we’re diving into how it got to this. How were these decisions made? What are the justifications, and what does it all mean for football, both now and the future? The potential consequences are vast, because while this is, on one level, a simple rip-off story, it’s also much more. The shocking ticket prices have been the signature story that sums up, but also raises further questions for the role of Fifa.

The global governing body is – theoretically – the ultimate guardian of the game, but how much concern have they shown for the wider football support base, and the fans that keep it going? While elements train tickets might not have their prices set directly by Fifa, they’re a consequence of lopsided deals Fifa has struck with the host cities.

Does it need to be like this? Chief sports writer Lawrence Ostlere hosts chief football writer Miguel Delaney and senior sports writer Kieran Jackson to discuss. They explore how it got to this point, and discuss how the entire controversy touches on a theme now key to modern football: that there is ideological tension between the European and UK model, which sees sport as a cultural good to be protected, and US consumerism, which considers it another entertainment commodity.

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino hands the World Cup Trophy to Donald Trump on August 22, 2025 (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP) (AFP/Getty)

We discuss why Fifa has landed so hard on one side, and what the potential consequences might be of the game’s leadership ushering through ticket prices that many club owners have wanted for a long time. Is Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s proximity to so these figures, and, notably, US president Donald Trump, part of this?

The episode also features an interview with Thomas Concannon of the Football Supporters Association to discuss specifically what it means for fans.