Tickets for the playoffs in Mexico that will determine two of the final World Cup berths are being sold by FIFA for less than $17, far less than the $4,185 to $8,680 FIFA is charging for this year’s final in New Jersey.
FIFA put tickets on sale Tuesday for the games on March 26 and 31 in Guadalajara and Monterrey involving Bolivia, Congo, Jamaica, New Caledonia and Suriname.
Tickets are priced at 200 Mexican pesos ($11.30) for the March 26 semifinals and 300 pesos ($16.95) for the March 31 finals.
In Guadalajara, Jamaica plays New Caledonia on March 26 and the winner plays Congo on March 31 for a World Cup berth.
In Monterrey, Bolivia faces Suriname on March 26 and the winner goes up against Iraq five days later.
Following global criticism from fan groups, FIFA announced in December that it would make a limited number of $60 tickets available for every match to the 48 national federations participating in the tournament. These federations will decide how to allocate the tickets, prioritising their most loyal supporters who have attended previous games.
Meanwhile, the majority of seats listed on FIFA’s official ticket resale platform designed to curb the secondary market while allowing FIFA to collect an additional 15% fee from both buyers and sellers are priced well above $1,000.
With around 7 million seats available across World Cup matches, FIFA said last month it had received roughly 500 million ticket requests. Despite FIFA president Gianni Infantino declaring that all 104 games were sold out, some fans reported receiving emails last week offering a further 48-hour window to purchase tickets.
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