Football World Cup
Fans see “tremendous betrayal” in World Cup tickets – DFB regrets
If you want to watch the three preliminary round games of the DFB team at the World Cup live on site, you will have to shell out just under 600 euros. After that the prices rise. The fans are outraged, the DFB is worried.
Football fans are foaming at the mouth because of the horrendous World Cup ticket prices – and the German Football Association also regrets the controversial pricing policy of the world association FIFA. “The World Cup is far away from Germany and a visit involves a lot of effort and high travel costs anyway. That’s another reason why we would have liked cheaper tickets for our fans overall,” said sports director Andreas Rettig.
According to the international fan association Football Supporters Europe, spectators in the respective fan blocks have to pay around 6,900 US dollars (around 5,875 euros) to be able to accompany their teams to a possible final. This is five times as many as at the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar, where there was one fewer game up to the final than with 48 participants for the first time.
The organization therefore sharply criticized ticket sales and called for an immediate stop to the current sales phase. The fan association wrote in a statement that they were “appalled by the horrendous ticket prices.” The fact that the cheapest category four for the respective fan blocks is not available to fans also causes anger and indignation. “This is an egregious betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup and ignores the fans’ contribution to this spectacle,” it continued.
DFB fans have to dig deep into their pockets
When asked, FIFA did not initially comment on the criticism. Given the explosion in costs for the finals in the summer of 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico, the DFB can only hope that many German fans will still support national coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team live on site during the World Cup mission. But they have to dig deep into their pockets to do this.
The cheapest tickets in the national team’s fan block are for the first preliminary round match in Houston against Curaçao for 155 euros. At least 190 euros must be paid against the Ivory Coast in Toronto and at least 230 euros for the final group game against Ecuador in East Rutherford near New York.
The price range in the three ticket categories offered extends up to 430 euros (Curaçao), 515 euros (Ivory Coast) and 600 euros (Ecuador). If the German team reaches the final, the prices per ticket in the DFB contingent are between 3,580 and 7,430 euros.
Price explosion compared to previous tournaments
On secondary market platforms, tickets for the final on July 19th are being traded for as much as $11,000 (around €9,380). For comparison: at the 1994 World Cup in the USA, ticket prices were between 25 and 475 US dollars. Three years ago in Qatar the range was $70 to $1,600. “FIFA alone sets the admission prices; the DFB has no influence on that,” said Rettig about the rapid price increase.
Like all other teams, Germany has eight percent of the tickets available per game for the fan block. Specifically, that means 4,307 tickets against Curaçao, 2,452 against Ivory Coast and 4,826 in the duel with Ecuador. Despite the high costs, the DFB hopes that the contingents will be fully utilized and has announced support for German World Cup tourists overseas.
“What we can partly influence are the general conditions for fans on site. Here we try, among other things, to offer the best possible service with the fan embassy in the venues, fan advisors in the venues and stadiums as well as a supporting program for fans and to be able to provide quick support with questions and problems on site,” said Rettig.
Additional costs are also high
But it’s not just the high ticket prices that are causing anger among fans. The already announced parking fees at the World Cup stadiums, which cannot always be reached cheaply by public transport, are something that Germans need to get used to. These range from 75 US dollars (65 euros) in Kansas City to 175 US dollars (150 euros) for a semi-final in Miami or Arlington.
Travel between the distant venues in the group phase also results in additional high costs compared to Qatar. If you don’t want to spend days on the highway between Houston/Texas, Toronto/Canada and East Rutherford/New Jersey, you have to take a plane.
Fans from all over the world feel the same way. An exasperated Englishman wrote on X: “I stopped counting the ticket costs when I realized they were more than my wedding.”
dpa
