{"id":112277,"date":"2026-01-22T22:54:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=112277"},"modified":"2026-01-22T22:54:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:54:01","slug":"infantino-joke-about-british-fans-was-cheap-fsa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=112277","title":{"rendered":"Infantino joke about British fans was \u2018cheap\u2019 \u2013 FSA"},"content":{"rendered":"
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FIFA president Gianni Infantino should focus on making \u201ccheap tickets\u201d for the 2026 World Cup instead of \u201ccheap jokes\u201d about British fans, says the Football Supporters\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Thursday, Infantino said it was \u201creally special\u201d that\u00a0no British nationals were arrested\u00a0during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.<\/p>\n

The Swiss addressed various concerns about this year\u2019s tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico, including domestic tensions in the US, possible visa issues for fans wishing to visit the country and ticket prices.<\/p>\n

He referenced criticism in the build-up to Qatar 2022, but said there were \u201cvirtually no incidents\u201d after the tournament started.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in history, also, no Brit was arrested during a World Cup,\u201d added Infantino.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine! This is something really, really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, the FSA said: \u201cWhile we\u2019ve got Mr Infantino\u2019s attention, we\u2019d like to point out that rather than making cheap jokes about our fans, he should concentrate on making cheap tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino reiterated his defence of World Cup 2026 ticket prices, which the FSA previously described as \u201cscandalous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Group stage tickets are up to three times the price of those for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, while the cheapest ticket for the final in New Jersey is \u00a33,119.<\/p>\n

FIFA introduced a small number of \u201cmore affordable\u201d $60 (\u00a345) tickets for all 104 matches at the 2026 World Cup following criticism of its pricing structure.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Davos, Infantino acknowledged \u201ctickets are not cheap\u201d and that he and Fifa were \u201chammered\u201d as a result, adding \u201cthe main critics were from Germany and England, of course\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, he defended the prices by again pointing to the demand for tickets.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cNow, number one in ticket requests is the US. Number two, Germany, number three, England, because everyone wants to come and to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino added \u201cevery match will be sold out\u201d, though FIFA has not revealed how demand for tickets is broken down across the 104 matches and price categories.<\/p>\n

European football leaders are reportedly increasingly concerned about US President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to annex\u00a0Greenland,\u00a0a largely self-governing Danish territory<\/span>.<\/p>\n

They are said to have\u00a0held initial discussions about how football could respond. European football\u2019s governing body Uefa and the Football Association (FA) have been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns over the Trump administration\u2019s actions, including\u00a0tougher immigration policies,\u00a0the capture of Venezuela\u2019s former president,\u00a0Nicolas Maduro\u00a0and Trump\u2019s desire to obtain Greenland, Infantino said the 2026 World Cup will be \u201cthe greatest celebration of humanity\u201d.<\/p>\n

There are doubts whether fans from every country that have qualified for the World Cup, which runs from 11 June to 19 July, will be able to enter the US, despite ticket holders having\u00a0access to priority visa appointments.<\/p>\n

A travel ban that bars nationals of listed countries from entering the US includes Haiti, Iran, the Ivory Coast, and Senegal, all of which have qualified and have either full or partial restrictions.<\/p>\n

The US State Department said exceptions to this ban do \u201cnot apply to fans or spectators\u201d. They can still submit visa applications, but \u201cthey may be ineligible for visa issuance or admission to the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Infantino said it was \u201cnot true\u201d that fans from certain nations may be denied US visas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"InfantinoFIFA president Gianni Infantino should focus on making “cheap tickets” for the 2026 World Cup instead of “cheap jokes” about British fans, says the Football Supporters’ Association.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15787,137,3561,1910,10,9,4550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british-fans","category-football","category-gianni-infantino","category-international","category-politics","category-popular","category-world-cup"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112277\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}