Tickets originally bought by England fans for Sunday’s World Cup last‑16 game against Mexico are being resold for up to £26,220 each on Fifa’s official portal – 57 times their face value – as the Football Supporters’ Association accused world football’s governing body of designing “an online exchange which allows tickets to be sold at vastly inflated prices” while grabbing 15% of the money from both buyer and seller.
The most expensive tickets, four listed together, have a face value of $605 (£460) each but are now priced at $30,000 (£22,800). With Fifa’s 15% buyer fee, the cost rises to $34,500 (£26,220). The seller, after paying Fifa $4,500 (£3,420), would still pocket $25,500 (£19,380) per ticket. The cheapest available ticket, originally $295 (£224), now costs $3,448 (£2,620) – nearly 12 times the original price.
“England fans face £26k World Cup tickets on Fifa resale site and secret kick-off time change threat.”
The Football Association confirmed the tickets were purchased through the England Supporters’ Travel Club ballot after the December draw, but cannot restrict resale because Fifa permits it. As of Friday morning, 76 tickets were listed in the supporter categories behind the goal in the England section, though it is not possible to ascertain whether they are being sold by the original purchaser or another party.
The Football Supporters’ Association said: “Fifa has deliberately designed an online exchange … In Fifa’s world, greed is good, and they’ll reap the rewards. This highlights the need for Fifa to allow the FA to have more control over the official allocation, as they do for the category four tickets, to prevent the exploitation of England supporters ahead of one of the most anticipated games in years.”
The ticket furore came as England were left stunned on Friday evening after learning of a secretive Fifa plan to bring the kick‑off forward by six hours to midday local time – 7pm in the UK – due to the threat of electrical thunderstorms in Mexico City. The FA were blindsided, learning of the potential change from social media platform X. Neither the FA nor the Mexican Football Federation had received confirmation, despite Mexican journalists and broadcasters reporting the switch.
After hours of silence, Fifa sources eventually confirmed the game would go ahead as planned at the original kick‑off time. The FA had been deeply concerned about the effect on England fans, some of whom were due to land in Mexico City from Heathrow at 2pm local time on Sunday – meaning they would have missed the game had it been changed. Thomas Tuchel’s squad, preparing to combat the high altitude at the Azteca (2,240 metres above sea‑level), also would have been affected.
Back home, the government has already confirmed that pubs will be allowed to stay open until 5am to air the match. Had the game been switched, it would have kicked off at the same time as England’s last visit to the Azteca – a 2‑1 defeat to Argentina in the 1986 World Cup, when Diego Maradona scored the Hand of God. Now the Three Lions will look to avenge that loss for Gary Lineker and Peter Shilton.