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GAR BLIMEY<\/p>\n
Gary Lineker to earn TEN TIMES his BBC salary after stunning World Cup deal<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s a big difference. There must be a catch?<\/p>\n
Of course there is. It\u2019s Fifa and they were dragged kicking and screaming into the concession.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each national association, including the FA, will get approximately eight per cent of the stadium allocation \u2013 after sponsors\u2019 seats are excluded \u2013 for each game.<\/p>\n
Now, 10 per cent of those seats will be in the \u201csupporter entry tier\u201d with the other prices remaining the same.<\/p>\n
CASINO SPECIAL \u2013 BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM \u00a310 DEPOSITS<\/strong><\/p>\nUnless you are one of the lucky fans, we\u2019re still talking an arm and a leg. And other body parts when it comes to the crunch games later on.<\/p>\n
So how many tickets are we actually talking about?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a precise number but around 400-450 seats for the Croatia match in the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, near Dallas, approximately 388 for the Ghana game in Foxborough on the outskirts of Boston and 480 or so for the final Group match against Panama at MetLife.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t exactly spell a major U-turn?<\/p>\n
No. It looks cosmetic \u2013 although cosmetic is better than nothing.<\/p>\n
But the England Supporters Travel Club has around 600 \u201ctop-cappers\u201d, the fans who have amassed the most loyalty points for attending matches abroad.<\/p>\n
So maybe two thirds of them will be able to take advantage of the cheaper seats for each game, meaning they could be sitting next to fans who have paid more than four times as much for effectively the same standard seat in the group phase \u2013 and 70 TIMES as much at the Final.<\/p>\n
What have Fifa said?<\/p>\n
Officially, national associations \u2013 including the FA and Scottish FA \u2013 have been \u201crequested to\u00a0ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams\u201d.<\/p>\n
Privately, even Fifa insiders conceded they were forced into the change of heart by the global backlash.<\/p>\n
Fifa\u2019s position is that they have listened to fans and reacted, allowing some supporters the chance to watch even the biggest game in world football at a genuinely affordable price.<\/p>\n
The reality is that less than TWO per cent of tickets will be on sale at the lowest price. Not entirely tin-eared. But not hugely better.<\/p>\n
FOLLOW all the build-up to next summer\u2019s World Cup right here including England updates, ticket news and Donald Trump\u2019s latest plans.<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat have the fans said?<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, variations of the same thing \u2013 \u201crip-off\u201d, \u201cfarce\u201d, a \u201ctoken gesture\u201d and \u201ca joke\u201d. And those were the positive reviews.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has even join in, saying: \u201cAs someone who used to save up for England tickets, I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so that the World Cup doesn\u2019t lose touch with the genuine supporters who make the game so special.\u201d<\/p>\n
Can the FA do anything?<\/p>\n
Wembley chiefs \u201ccontacted\u201d Fifa to \u201cpass on their concerns\u201d last week. But, to a degree, it is out of their hands.<\/p>\n
Saying that, the FA could make a financial gesture, especially for the earlier games.<\/p>\n
There will now be around 5,000 tickets in the second lowest pricing bracket for the three group games.<\/p>\n
If the FA chose to subsidise just through tickets, selling them at the \u00a345 level instead but reimbursing Fifa at full price, it would cost Wembley bosses around \u00a3660,000. <\/p>\n
The FA would earn around \u00a310million in prize money merely for getting through the group phase, which will eliminate just 16 of the 48 teams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FIFA have announced a new\u00a0\u201csupporter entry tier\u201d ticket category for the 2026 World Cup.\u00a0 But what does it…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":452489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[2034,221,62,98576,67,132,68,105860],"class_list":{"0":"post-452488","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-fifa","9":"tag-soccer","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-the-fa","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-world-cup-2026"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115733154104751772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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