England have confirmed that they will reward the team’s most loyal supporters with the cut-price ‘Supporter Entry Tier’ tickets FIFA begrudgingly issued amid backlash over outlandish prices.
Football’s governing body had previously announced their ticket pricing ahead of next year’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States last week, with fans left aghast at even the lowest-possible options.
Fans will have to shell out £200 for the cheapest ticket to watch England’s opener against Croatia in Dallas, with the most affordable seat at the World Cup final in New Jersey staggeringly priced at over £4,000.
But FIFA were forced into a climbdown on Tuesday with the announcement of a new category of tickets available for purchase.
The governing body will hand over an unspecified number of tickets, thought to be around 10 per cent of the overall allocation handed to each nation taking part, at a cost of £45 ($60).
The Football Association have since clarified that the allocation will be available to their ‘Top Cappers’ – supporters with a total of 62 active caps.
‘Based on our initial registration of interest, we will have enough ‘Supporter Entry Tier’ tickets to meet the demand of Top Cappers who applied for each match,’ a statement shared on Wednesday confirmed.
However, should more Top Cappers register for matches before the deadline of Tuesday January 13, the FA will organise a ‘mini ballot’ to assign the allocation.
Additionally, if there are more ‘Supporter Entry Tier’ tickets than Top Cappers, the FA will also run a ballot to ensure they are used up.
In an email to the England Supporters Travel Club, seen by Daily Mail Sport, fans have been warned ‘not to cancel any applications at this stage’. Following the outcry, meetings took place over the weekend and early this week with senior officials in Doha, Qatar.
A FIFA official close to those discussions said: ‘Demand for tickets has been off the scale, more than 20 million requests so far in this latest phase. We have listened to feedback and this new category is the right thing to do.
‘Making $60 tickets available to more fans, including the most loyal ones who travel, was agreed on unanimously.
‘Associations will need to work out who best should receive them.
‘It’s a unique tournament and a unique market in the USA, in particular, which allows resales on secondary platforms. The demand is sky high.
‘No organisation does more to support the development of the game around the world than FIFA. All 211 associations, including the poorest countries, will benefit from a commercially successful World Cup.’
FIFA announced on Wednesday that the 2026 World Cup will also have the biggest prize pot in the competition’s history, with an eye-watering £37.5million to be dished out to the winner.
The remarkable prize was approved by the footballing body at a meeting in Doha on Tuesday ahead of FIFA’s annual awards evening.
It was decided that the overall fund available for competing nations will be set at an eye-watering £545m, up some 50 per cent on the total in Qatar four years ago.
