FIFA adds new even more expensive World Cup ticket categories

FIFA added new, even more expensive tiers of tickets for this year’s World Cup, asking up to US$4,105 for a front category 1 seat at the US opener against Paraguay in Inglewood, California, on June 12.

Last week, FIFA had asked for a top price of $2,735 for category 1 tickets for the match, but added new “front category” pricing.

FIFA also added a front category 2 tier to its ticket sales website without public announcement, asking US$1,940 to US$2,330 for those tickets for the US opener.

The new categories were first reported on Thursday by The Athletic.

The World Cup will be held from June 11 to July 19 in 16 cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Football’s governing body had in its Sept. 9 “ticket products and categories” information called category 1 “the highest-priced seats, located primarily in the lower tier” but appears to have withheld some seats from that category. It had labeled category 2 as “positioned outside of category 1 areas, available in both lower and upper tiers.”

FIFA did not respond to an email sent to its media office seeking comment.

FIFA added seats at up to US$3,360 in front category 1 for Canada’s opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto.

For the round of 16 games, it added $905 seats in Philadelphia.

FIFA last week raised its top ticket price for the World Cup final to US$10,990 during the glitch-hampered reopening of sales. The price had been $8,680 when FIFA sold tickets after the tournament draw in December.

FIFA’s category 2 tickets for the July 19 game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, were US$7,380, up from US$5,575, and category 3 cost US$5,785, an increase from US$4,185.

No tickets appeared to be available for the final on Thursday on FIFA’s ticket site.

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