FIFA President Gianni Infantino made a joke about the behavior of British football fans, during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, last Thursday.
Infantino also used his speech in Davos to defend ticket prices for this summer’s World Cup, which is being hosted by America, Canada and Mexico.
In response to the concerns surrounding holding the tournament in America in light of escalating internal tensions, Infantino said that the Qatar 2022 World Cup was preceded by “a lot of criticism,” noting that the matter reflects a similar pattern of prior anxiety.
He said, “When the ball started rolling and the magic began, we witnessed practically no incidents, and for the first time in history as well, no Britons were arrested during the World Cup. Imagine! This is truly special.”
The global celebration bet despite human rights criticism
He added, “It was a celebration, it was a party, and the next version in America, Canada and Mexico will be exactly the same way. People want occasions to meet, gather, spend time and celebrate, and this is what we are trying to offer them.”
Infantino said that the upcoming finals will be “the greatest celebration of humanity,” despite the concerns expressed by human rights organizations regarding a number of policies adopted by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Ticket prices and standard ordering
Infantino then moved on to talk about the criticism related to ticket prices, and FIFA said that it received more than 500 million requests for tickets during the last application window, which closed on January 13 of this year, and the price of the second cheapest category of tickets for the final match was 4,185 US dollars (3,100 British pounds), while only a very small percentage of tickets were available in the cheapest category of $40, which led to a wave of sharp criticism.
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He said, “Tickets are not cheap. We were severely attacked, and I was attacked, I must say, because of the ticket prices, because they are very high.” He added, “The most prominent critics were from Germany and England, of course, and now the first country in terms of ticket requests is America, the second is Germany, and the third is England, because everyone wants to come and participate.”
Resale, visas and welcoming host countries
FIFA did not reveal details about how the demand for tickets would be distributed among the 104 matches or the price categories, but Infantino confidently confirmed, “Every match will be completely sold out.” He added that many tickets, due to FIFA’s ticket resale platform, “will likely be resold at higher prices.” He said, “This is unbelievable, but it really shows the size of the impact.” He added, “To give you another number for comparison, during the 100-year history of the World Cup, FIFA sold about 50 million.” “In total, for this tournament, in just four weeks, we received orders for 1,000 years’ worth of World Cups in one go.”
“This is unique, it’s amazing, but it really shows that people trust the organization, and maybe they trust FIFA as well, and they trust Canada, Mexico and America. They want to travel, they want to go.”
Infantino said that reports that fans from certain countries might be denied visas to enter America are “incorrect.”
Although spectators from Haiti, Iran and Senegal in particular are expected to face difficulties in obtaining entry permission to America, Infantino said, “America, as well as Canada and Mexico, will welcome the world next summer, and this is what we are looking forward to.”
