World Cup Fans Outraged by £1,000 Ticket 'Scam' as FIFA Takes a Slice of the Resale Market

WORLD Cup tickets will be the most expensive ever seen after Fifa grabbed a share of the lucrative resale market for the first time.

The football governing body will get 30 per cent of each transaction, with seats already going for a “rip-off” £1,000.

The unprecedented cash-grab will price out tens of thousands of Three Lions fans desperate to watch Harry Kane and our lads in the US, Canada or MexicoCredit: Getty President Trump with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino in the Oval Office of the White HouseCredit: Splash Loyal support but many fans will be priced out of seeing England play at the finalsCredit: Jack Hill, The Times/The Sunday Times The staggering cost of a hospitality ticket for a group game starts at $1,400 per person The MetLife Stadium will host the finalCredit: Getty

’s England find out on Friday who and when they play.

fans are fuming after ­discovering will take a 15 per cent cut from both the buyer and the seller with tickets often bought and sold online four or five times.

The unprecedented cash-grab will price out tens of thousands of desperate to watch Harry Kane and our lads in .

Only a small minority will get affordable seats, while official websites showed none available yesterday for less than £1,000 ahead of Friday’s .

One secondary seller was already offering tickets at next for nearly £33,000.

Prices are rocketing owing to soaring demand – with more nations playing than ever before — and Fifa’s decision to freeze allocations to official fans.

The England Supporters Travel Club has 27,000 members — but will get just eight per cent of tickets at matches, as few as 3,600 at some 2026 venues.

Lucky ones will pay £85-£125 for or try for costlier tickets when fixed-price seats eventually go on sale online.

But many more look certain to fall into the clutches of resale sites.

fans last night hit out at , likening the bloated Geneva-based football fiefdom to a tout.

Angry supporter Richard Wilson, a 64-year-old case worker from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, said: “It’s a total disgrace. But no one is surprised that Fifa’s fatcats are at it again – they’re behaving like touts.

“There’s no way any ordinary fan I know could afford to pay that much to watch England. We all know what Fifa stands for — F***ing International Fans Again.”

fan Keith Brown, 46, added: “I was intending to go to New York and try and see one or two games – but I can’t afford a second mortgage!”

supporter Bharat Patel, 34, a panel beater from Ilford, East London, said: “At every World Cup they seem to make it more difficult for supporters like me to see my country.

“I earn £350 a week so if it is £1,000 that’s three weeks’ money for 90 minutes of footie. It is a rip-off.”

eight per cent allocation could be 6,400 if they play in ­, or 6,600 in . But it could be just 3,600 if players are in action in .

, and are also in Friday’s draw, to be held in .

A ticket for the World Cup Final next July is already being offered for £32,967

Thomas Concannon, of the Football Supporters’ Association, said fans will have to fork out more than double the outlay from the .

Checks of reseller website Vivid seats yesterday showed that a ticket for the is already being offered for £32,967.

The site claimed the Category One seat at , with a hospitality package, was already “selling fast”.

Official Fifa sites showed no tickets less than £1,000 were being offered for any games in the US, Canada or Mexico, even though fixtures have yet to be drawn up.

Fifa — headed by US President pal — has yet to announce the range of fixed prices when tickets go on general sale from December 11.

But officials say they are governed by US laws which allow tickets to be resold at any price.

Checks of reseller website Vivid seats showed that a ticket for the World Cup Final next July is already being offered for £32,967Credit: Getty The site claimed the Category One seat at New Jersey’s MetLife ­Stadium, with a hospitality package, was already ‘selling fast’Credit: Getty

And they claim they are taking a 15 per cent cut from both buyer and seller every time a ticket changes hands to “deter” resales.

But a source told The Sun: “England fans who can’t get an official ticket will be at the mercy of the online touts, effectively paying a kickback to Fifa.

“Fifa call it their new dynamic pricing model and say it’s normal and acceptable in the US but it looks certain to drive prices out of the reach of everyone but the prawn sandwich brigade.

“Every England match will undoubtedly be a high-demand game – and that can only mean one thing.”

A spokesman for Fifa said ringfenced allocations “will be set at a fixed price for the duration of the next ticket sales phase”.

He added: “The pricing model adopted for Fifa World Cup 26 reflects the existing market practice for major entertainment and sporting events within our hosts on a daily basis, soccer included.

“This is also a reflection of the treatment of the secondary market for tickets, which has a distinct legal treatment than in many other parts of the world. We are focused on ensuring fair access to our game.”