FIFA president Gianni Infantino has lambasted British soccer fans while defending the upcoming World Cup and its ticket prices.
FIFA’s ticket prices for tournaments in the United States, Canada and Mexico have been widely criticized by fan groups.
But Infantino joked that there was similar “noise” surrounding the Qatar World Cup.
“When the ball started rolling and the magic started, there was virtually no mishap,” he told the World Economic Forum.
US President Donald Trump and FIFA Director General Gianni Infantino hold the World Cup trophy in the Oval Office of the White House.
“It’s also the first time in history that not a single Briton was arrested during a World Cup. Just imagine! This is really, really special.”
“So it’s a celebration, it’s a party, and it’s going to be exactly the same next time in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
“People want an opportunity to meet, gather, spend time and celebrate. This is what we are trying to give them.”
England and Wales were the only British teams to qualify for the Qatar World Cup. However, Infantino’s flippant remarks about English fans at the World Cup turned out to be wrong.
That’s because Qatar 2022 was not the first World Cup in which no British national was arrested in the host country. No English fans were arrested by police at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
In addition, the behavior of England fans was described as “impeccable” in Qatar, and although there were several arrests in Germany in 2006, many of them were “preventive arrests”, with the British police chief in Germany praising the actions of England fans at the time.
In response to Infantino’s comments, the Football Supporters’ Association said, “While we appreciate Mr. Infantino’s interest, we would like to point out that he should focus on making cheap tickets instead of making cheap jokes about fans.”
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Kabe Solhekol releases latest information on ticket prices for next summer’s Soccer World Cup
FIFA was forced to abruptly depart from its original fee structure, resulting in an overall price increase of almost 500 percent compared to Qatar in 2022.
Under the scheme, the cheapest ticket available for England and Scotland fans at the tournament will be £134 for Scotland’s opening group game against Haiti, with a minimum of £198 for fans of England vs. Croatia and Scotland vs. Brazil.
This led to protests from many national fan groups and accusations of “betrayal” of supporters.
As a result, football’s governing body announced a significant reduction in the number of fans who will be able to pay just £45 (about 6,000 yen) for each match, including the final.
While the £45 slots are only available through national federations and ultimately end up in the hands of real supporters, they still represent only about 10 per cent of the allocation each federation receives and less than 1 per cent of the total capacity for each match.
Fan groups are still demanding that FIFA take further steps to make World Cup tickets more affordable. Especially since the global umbrella body is expected to generate revenues of almost £10bn between 2023 and 2026.
Many fans also felt they were in trouble because they applied for more expensive tickets before FIFA announced they would be offering £45 tickets.
