Fifa president Gianni Infantino said the unprecedented demand for 2026 World Cup tickets vindicates their controversial pricing structure.
Speaking at the opening of the World Sports Summit at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai on Monday, Infantino revealed Fifa had received 150 million ticket requests since they went on sale 15 days ago.
Fifa has come in for fierce criticism over the cost of tickets following a sharp increase in price from Qatar 2022. Scotland manager Steve Clarke even warned supporters not to risk going into debt just to attend the tournament.
Football’s governing body responded by releasing a very small number of cheaper tickets to the federations of the qualified nations. Infantino acknowledged the criticism as he addressed the summit, but quickly moved on to spelling out the sheer scale of demand.
“It's a World Cup year. We all know what this means,” he said. “Three beautiful countries, United States, Canada and Mexico [and] 16 fantastic host cities, 48 teams participating, 48 countries, a quarter of the world. [That is] 104 matches, 104 Super Bowls in one month to determine who will be the world champion.
“We'll have six to seven million people in the stadiums. We'll have six billion people watching from home. We generate over $10 billion revenue, which we reinvest in the game all over the world.
“And in the last few days, you probably have seen, there is a lot of debate about ticketing and ticket price
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