Doha
\nFIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the ticket prices for next year\u2019s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, citing heavy demand for them and the revenue generated for the sport around the world.
\nThis month fan groups criticised the cost of tickets, which were several times more expensive than those for similar matches at the 2022 tournament.
\nFIFA then launched a $60 ticket tier to make the games more affordable for fans of qualified teams.
\n\u201cWe have six-seven million tickets on sale \u2026 in 15 days, we received 150 million ticket requests. So, 10 million ticket requests every single day. It shows how powerful the World Cup is,\u201d Infantino said on Monday at the World Sports Summit in Dubai.
\n\u201cIn the almost 100 years of history of the World Cup, FIFA has sold 44 million tickets in total. So, in two weeks\u2026 we could\u2019ve filled 300 years of World Cups. Imagine that. This is absolutely crazy.\u201d
\nFans from the US have made the highest number of ticket requests, followed by Germany and the United Kingdom, the FIFA president said.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s crucial is that the revenues that are generated from this are going back to the game all over the world,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cWithout FIFA there\u2019d be no football in 150 countries in the world. There is football because, and thanks to, these revenues we generate with, and from, the World Cup which we reinvest all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
DUBAI TO HOST FIFA BEST AWARDS NEXT YEAR
\nDubai will host the global governing body\u2019s Best Awards ceremony next year.
\nThe FIFA Best Awards honour the top men\u2019s and women\u2019s players, as well as coaches and teams, as voted for by fans, media representatives, captains and national team coaches.
\n\u201cI can announce here a new partnership we have closed together to honour the best players, coaches and teams, here in Dubai,\u201d Infantino said.
\n\u201cWe have enjoyed the sport, and now we will enjoy even more the unity the sport brings to the entire world.\u201d
\nFrance forward Ousmane Dembele was named men\u2019s player of the year and Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati won the women\u2019s award in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Doha FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the ticket prices for next year\u2019s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, citing heavy demand for them and the revenue generated for the sport around the world. This month fan groups criticised the cost of tickets, which were several times more expensive than those for similar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-522902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n