Fans have accused FIFA of a "monumental betrayal" after the latest prices for World Cup tickets began to circulate on Thursday.
The governing body allocates 8% of tickets to national associations for games involving their team to sell to the most loyal fans.
And a list published by the German soccer federation revealed prices ranged from $180-$700 for varying group stage games. The lowest price for the final was $4,185 and the highest was $8,680.
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Those group-stage prices are very different from FIFA's claims of $60 tickets being available, while the target from United States soccer officials when bidding for the tournament seven years ago was to offer hundreds of thousands of $21 seats across the opening phase of games.
Fan organisation Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described the current prices as "extortionate."
It said based on the information it so far had available, fans faced paying €6,900 ($8,111) to attend every match from the first game to the final via the participant member association (PMA) allocation, which is designed to be made available to fans who attend the most matches, with tickets at fixed rather than dynamic prices. According to FSE, that was five times more than they would have paid to do so at the last finals in Qatar.
"This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is," it said in a statement.
FSE pointed out that rather than adopting a standard price across all group matches, pricing appeared to have been calculated "dependent on vague criteria such as the perceived attractiveness of the fixture."
The English Football Association shared pricing information with the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) on Thursday evening, which showed that if a fan bought a ticket for every game through to the final it would cost $7,020 (£5,228).
The pricing policy was described as "laughable" by the Football Supporters' Association's England Fans' Embassy.
In a post on X, the England Fans' Embassy said: "These prices are a slap in the face to supporters who support their team outside of the flagship tournament that appears every four years.
"To call the Category 3 tickets, the cheapest available to ESTC members, 'Supporter Value Category 3' that comes at a cost of $7,020 if you want to follow England from start to finish, is laughable."
England fans' group Free Lions posted on X to say it backed FSE's statement, adding that these were "shocking prices, above and beyond the already high costs we suspected."
"This can't be allowed to happen. Match-goers across the world deserve protection from these rip-off prices," the group's statement said.
FIFA said in September that tickets released through its website would initially range from $60 for group-stage matches to $6,730 for the final. But those prices are subject to change as it adopts dynamic pricing for the first time at the World Cup.
FIFA tickets are available in four categories, with the best seats in Category 1.
In the price list published by the German federation, there were only three categories.
The lowest priced ticket was $180 for Germany's opening group game against Curacao in Houston. The lowest price for the semifinal was $920 rising to $1,125.
The FSE called on FIFA to immediately halt ticket sales via national associations "until a solution that respects the tradition, universality, and cultural significance of the World Cup is found."
The Associated Press approached FIFA for comment.
FIFA launched its third phase of widespread ticket sales Thursday, with fans now able to apply for specific matches for the first time through its "Random Selection Draw."
Following last week's draw for the 2026 tournament, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, an updated schedule has been published.
That means fans know when and where the likes of Lionel Messi and Argentina will play. Previous ticket ballots were blind as the qualification period had not even been completed and the draw was yet to take place.
Now participating nations have been placed in groups, with their paths through the tournament determined. For instance, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could go on to meet in the quarterfinals in Kansas City if both Argentina and Portugal top their respective groups.
Not that fans are guaranteed to get tickets to the games they apply for.
The draw opened Dec. 11 at 11 a.m. ET (4 p.m. GMT) and closes Jan. 13, 2026.
The last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994 prices ranged from $25 to $475. In Qatar in 2022 prices ranged from around $70 to $1,600 when ticket details were announced.
Information from The Associated Press and PA was used in this report.