Astronomical World Cup ticket prices might have been a huge issue for English fans this week, but you wouldn’t have guessed that from the Football Association board meeting. Sources say they weren’t even discussed. The guidance in one weekly missive instead just stated: “Fifa set the prices, we aren’t involved, we don’t get to approve them, and we only received them just prior to the announcement. We are aware that many of our fans and fan groups are unhappy with the pricing, and have asked us to relay their concerns to Fifa. We will do that.”
To which an obvious response is, what about the FA’s own concerns? What about its anger about this? What about the fact it had ample warning about these prices for months? Where’s the lobbying? These are just pre-sales. There is time for pressure to work and Fifa to reverse this.
