World Cup tickets selling for 11 times face value

Tickets for next year’s World Cup in North America are selling on Fifa’s official resale platform for 11 times their face value.

With just a week to go before Scotland learn who they’ll face at the tournament, there are concerns that fans will face being priced out.

Tickets on FIFA’s official resale site are regularly being listed for between five and eleven times their original price.

In Toronto, Canada, on June 23 – at the time of writing a group game between two unknown teams – tickets were originally $60 (£45.43).

But the same tickets on the official resale site are currently listed for 11 times that at $671 (£508.04) – including fees.

It’s not a one-off. Tickets for another group match in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, June 22 – also between two unknown countries – have gone from $60 to $445.

Fans say it’s unfair and they’re being priced out.

It’s the same when you look at premium Category 1 tickets – the best seats.

A game in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 13, was first sold for $410. But they are now listed for more than $1,000 after taxes.

Fifa said its resale platform provides fans looking to sell or purchase tickets on the secondary market with a “safe and secure method to do so”.

“Fifa can confirm that it will retain ringfenced allocations that are set aside for specific fan categories and that these allocations will be set at a fixed price,” a spokesperson told STV News.

“We can also confirm that we will continue to make ‘Follow-your-Team’ products available.

“The fact that secondary market activity is legally open renders it necessary to have a ticketing model that reflects our responsibility to provide access to fans, while at the same time ensuring as much value as possible is retained for redistribution into the game globally.”

Fifa added that, a not-for-profit organization, the revenue it generates from the World Cup is reinvested to “fuel the growth of the game”.