Club World Cup prices drop, Infantino irks Canada and Mexico, New Zealand-U.S. World Cup? – Inside FIFA’s dramatic Congress

In the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, representatives from 211 nations and territories assembled this week for the 75th FIFA Congress. This was not an obvious contender to be a dramatic affair because the agenda was relatively light. Yet in the space of a few days, civil war broke out within the FIFA Council, which is the decision-making body that sits at the top of the organisation.

The drama began when The Athletic revealed last week that FIFA president Gianni Infantino would not be attending a scheduled in-person meeting of the FIFA Council in Paraguay on Tuesday, making it a virtual call and instead joining President Donald Trump on a visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar. This rankled several members of the Council but matters really blew up on Thursday morning when flight tracking data of a Qatari private jet travelling from Doha — via Lagos in Nigeria — showed that Infantino appeared to still be in the air to Paraguay, delaying the Congress by three hours.

Despite Infantino’s apologies when the meeting finally began, the eight UEFA (European) members of the Council walked out midway through the Congress. A UEFA statement chastised the late changes to timings and accused Infantino of making changes “for what appears to be simply accommodating private political interests”. Victor Montagliani, the FIFA vice-president and president of Concacaf, later said two wrongs do not make a right”, in response to UEFA’s walk-out.

This was just one flashpoint during what became a tricky week for FIFA in South America and The Athletic was present, speaking to federations, stakeholders and insiders to uncover, among other matters:

• FIFA’s struggle to sell Club World Cup tickets for this summer’s tournament in the United States
• Why some officials in Canada and Mexico were left unimpressed during Infantino’s trip to the Middle East
• Why New Zealand may be eyeing up a partnership with the United States to host the 2038 World Cup
• And are FIFA really considering expanding the men’s World Cup to 64 teams?

Club World Cup prices drop again

This summer’s revamped and expanded FIFA Club World Cup tournament will see 32 teams from across the world compete to win a tournament hosted across 11 cities in the United States. However, the general public in the U.S. do not seem as smitten with the idea as either Infantino, whose name is inscribed twice on the trophy, or the competing teams, who now have $1billion (£753m) of prize money to play for.

The Athletic can reveal that FIFA’s quest to fill stadiums is floundering to the extent that the organisation has now dropped the price of tickets once again, having unveiled a new tier of lower pricing for games during the tournament. In a statement to The Athletic, FIFA confirmed: “New batches of more affordable match tickets have been released this week on the FIFA.com/tickets.” The organisation did not clarify what this new bracket refers to but tickets on FIFA’s partner Ticketmaster are now showing up as vastly reduced compared to the lowest prices that were available to fans earlier this year.

For example, as of Friday morning, the lowest priced tickets for the following group stage matches involving major European sides were presenting lowest priced options of $30 or less: Manchester City v Al Ain in Atlanta, Inter v Urawa Red Diamonds in Seattle, Paris Saint-Germain v Botafogo in Pasadena, Chelsea v Esperance de Tunis in Philadelphia. Other games involving teams unfamiliar to many in the United States, such as the Korean team Ulsan HD against the South Africans Mamelodi Sundowns in Orlando, are available for $28.

FIFA has been operating a “variable pricing model” for this tournament, which is more commonly known as dynamic pricing. When demand is high, this can lead to prices sky-rocketing, while when demand is low, it can work in the favour of the consumer and lead to lower prices. The lowest priced tickets on general sale for the semi-finals are showing at about $300, which is substantially down on FIFA’s original aims a few months ago, while the cheapest ticket on general sale for the final is currently $538, but thousands of seats remain available.

Some prices appear to have remained more resilient, particularly group games involving Real Madrid. Via general sale, the cheapest seat for their game against Saudi side Al-Hilal is $194.38, while it is $101 against Mexican side Pachuca and $100 against Red Bull Salzburg, despite 20 sections of the stadium in Philadelphia showing 100+ seats remaining available for 20 sections of non-luxury seating. FIFA has been buoyed by the take-up for some games, such as Boca Juniors against Bayern Munich, which is scheduled for a Friday night in June at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. Other venues, most notably the 90,000-capacity Rose Bowl, are braced for lots of empty seats. FIFA recently announced it had gifted 30,000 tickets for matches in Los Angeles to first responders who fought wildfires which recently devastated the region.

Several sources familiar with the planning of the tournament, who spoke anonymously to protect relationships, said FIFA believe the U.S. is a late-buying market for sports events and is hoping that interest will build throughout the tournament.

There is some good news for fans, as supporters who acquired tickets via their club’s allocation may be in line for partial reimbursements if prices for equivalent seating within stadiums have dropped since they first bought their tickets. FIFA is in contact with clubs to explore the possibility of partial refunds to supporters who bought tickets in current and previous sales periods.

New Zealand talks up trans-Pacific World Cup in 2038

FIFA has already wrapped up the locations for the 2030 and 2034 men’s World Cup, which means plenty at the Congress were already thinking about where the tournament may end up in future editions.

Under FIFA’s confederation rotation principle, two tournaments need to pass by before a single confederation is able to host a World Cup again. In 2030, three confederations are hosting the World Cup, because FIFA has split the tournament between South America, Africa and Europe, playing games in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Morocco, Spain and Portugal. Then, in 2034, the Asian confederation has the tournament in Saudi Arabia. This rules out those four confederations, which leaves only Concacaf and Oceania as potential destinations for 2038.

This means, under the current rules at least, a return to the United States, just twelve years after the men’s World Cup in 2026 and (almost certainly) the women’s World Cup in 2031, may well be the likeliest outcome if FIFA enforces the principle.

One federation has already made clear that it is interested in exploring hosting arrangements for the tournament and that is New Zealand. Ordinarily, we might expect New Zealand to partner with neighbouring Australia, but Australia is part of the Asian confederation, which would rule it out of hosting in 2038 due to Saudi’s host status for 2034. This leaves New Zealand, who co-hosted the 2023 women’s World Cup with Australia, seeking more innovative options.

During an extended interview with The Athletic in Paraguay, the New Zealand federation CEO Andrew Pragnell said: “It’s clearly not realistic we could ever host one on our own. They’re getting bigger and the capacity requirements are well known. But we are certainly capable of hosting a group and a couple of knockout games, so the key for us is partnership. Given the limited stadium sizes in the rest of Oceania, we have to partner.

“We have raised it, within Fifa in meetings and in conversations. We haven’t formalised it. What’s really interesting is the way that 2030 is playing out, where you’ve got literally three confederations involved and crossing the globe. We are 13 years away and the way the event is growing (2026 will be expanded to 48 teams), the event could just get to the point where it can only be staged in one or two areas.

“But you’d like to think that given the philosophy of FIFA, which is about more distribution of wealth to more of the game, they’d go, ‘You in this small region can have a group stage and then relocate’. You could argue we could partner with anyone based on the 2030 model, but geographically, New Zealand looks two ways frequently in economic discussions — either as part of Asia or part of the wider Asia-Pacific region, so you look across to the west coast of the Americas.”

He said no discussions with potential partners have yet taken place. However, the U.S. has shown itself as being open to creative hosting ideas, notably sharing 2026 with Canada and Mexico, and bidding for 2031 along with Mexico — and it is likely Jamaica and Costa Rica will soon join that women’s tournament as co-hosts for a small number of games.

A potential trans-Pacific World Cup could even hypothetically involve Hawaii, which does have a 50,000-seater stadium, while Fiji is also currently exploring building a stadium.

Pragnell added: “Everyone wants something different. The idea may be that we’re gonna look at this ocean, the Pacific, and that we could host it across that. The Paris Olympics (in 2024) held the surfing in Tahiti, right? People want different things. They are looking for a different experience and the idea of holding this across the ocean (appeals).”

Infantino irks Canada and Mexico

President Infantino’s adventures across the Middle East this week put European noses out of joint and The Athletic also heard various whispers of increasingly disgruntled Canadians and Mexicans in the corridors of power within sport and politics.

Infantino joined President Trump and the Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha. Not only did Infantino join them for a state banquet at Lusail Palace, but he also posted an image on Instagram of the emir presenting a ball from the 2022 edition of the men’s World Cup in Qatar. As Infantino stood beside them, it looked to many like a handover from the 2022 tournament to the 2026 tournament.

One problem with that (or two): there are three hosts of the World Cup in 2026, because the tournament is being shared with Mexico and Canada, neither of which had representatives present in Doha.

People briefed on FIFA’s position pointed out this was not an official handover but the optics did cause some consternation, particularly because Infantino’s increasingly cosy relationship with the White House has produced some rather awkward moments for the two other hosts of FIFA’s tournament for next summer.

Remember, for example, how Infantino was seen laughing hysterically as Trump unveiled his plan to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America during his inauguration speech in January, or how Infantino stood next to Trump and smiled awkwardly as the U.S. president joked that trade wars with his neighbours would make the World Cup “more exciting”.

Multiple people at the Congress in Paraguay told The Athletic that all of this has not gone down well with officials in Canada and Mexico.

Trump and Infantino in Qatar – but the U.S. is one of three 2026 World Cup hosts (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Infantino’s involvements with Trump — and frequent Instagram posts thanking the U.S. president — have secured some wins so far for FIFA, notably in the establishment of a White House World Cup Task Force, while Trump also indicated last week that he was open to providing the security funding necessary to cover costs required for host cities during the tournament.

Addressing the FIFA Congress on Thursday, Infantino also insisted, despite the Trump administration’s hardline stance on immigration and commitment to deportations, that “the world is welcome in America”.

“Of course, the players, everyone involved, but definitely also, all the fans,” he said. “And let’s be clear about that: this doesn’t come from me, this comes from the American government.”

J.D. Vance, the U.S. vice-president, last week said of fans travelling for the tournament: “We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home. Otherwise they’ll have to talk to (Homeland Security) Secretary Kristi Noem.”

As for the apparent handover in Qatar, the Concacaf president Montagliani, who is Canadian and also FIFA vice-President, sought to calm any tensions when asked if Canada and Mexico are receiving enough attention from FIFA’s leadership.”From what I understand, it was a state issue, so it’s up to Qatar and the U.S. to invite who they want to invite. I’m not worried about that at all. Mexico is a fantastic country. And as the president of the United States once said, the world could use more Canada’s.”

It would be lovely to ask Infantino about any of this but he did not do a press conference for media at the Congress — for the second year in a row — and left the mixed zone scrum for his vice-presidents and general secretary to endure.

Will FIFA back a ‘special’ 64-team World Cup?

There was a peculiar dance around the houses during the FIFA Congress speeches on Thursday.

Alejandro Dominguez, CONMEBOL president and FIFA vice-president, was one of the headline speakers. The Paraguayan made the proposal at his own congress in April to expand the 2030 edition of the tournament to 64 teams. He said it should be a one-off to mark the 100th anniversary of the tournament.

The 2030 tournament will include a game each for Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, but it would appear that CONMEBOL would like to have more games to host, and rather than taking them away from Spain, Portugal or Morocco, the plan by Dominguez is to simply expand the tournament from 48 teams (which will happen for the first time in 2026) to 64.

Dominguez did not mention 64 teams during his speech at the FIFA Congress this week but he did urge the room to think differently about a big centenary celebration. He made a comparison as to how a person might celebrate a 49th or 51st birthday differently to a 50th birthday and that exceptions should be made for special event. Dominguez added: “I would like to invite you to reflect together so we can do something that the world is waiting for, that the football community deserves. It is what football teaches us — to play as a team.”

In his closing comments, Infantino opened the door. He said: “The 100-year celebration will be something special. And I want to underline the words of Alejandro in this speech. He told all of us to think on how we can really celebrate it in the way it deserves to be celebrated. So every idea is a good idea.”

Mattias Grafstrom, the FIFA general secretary, told the media afterwards: “Both the president of CONMEBOL and the FIFA president posed an open question about the Centenary World Cup. All ideas are welcome but no specific ideas have been discussed.”

Montagliani repeated his opposition to the idea. “It’s not a great idea. We haven’t even kicked the ball for 48, and obviously they can study all they want, but it just doesn’t feel right,” he said.

(Top photo: Marcelo Endelli – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

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