As the FIFA World Cup kicks off, Michael Lavalette looks at some of the controversies surrounding the biggest sporting event on the planet

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off with Mexico vs South Africa. This is the biggest World Cup tournament in history with 48 countries competing in matches taking place across three countries (Mexico, Canada and the USA). FIFA president, Gianni Infantino has stated that the next four weeks will be “the greatest event that humanity has ever seen”.

It will certainly be a very profitable month for the world governing body FIFA.

The tournament is set to be the largest income generator for FIFA ever with total revenue for the one-month festival predicted to reach around $10.9bn (up from a ‘mere’ $7bn at the last tournament four years ago in Qatar, which was itself a 32% uplift on the 2018 tournament in Russia). Over the four year World Cup cycle’, FIFA estimates its earnings will reach $13bn.

To put this in context, the last Olympics in Paris raised $5.24bn for the IOC.

Up until the South African World Cup of 2010 the Olympics always generated more revenue than the World Cup, but since 2010 there has only been one winner in the race to be the global sporting event par excellence.

The World Cup generates its wealth from broadcasting rights (over $4.2bn), sponsorship ($2.8bn) and match-day revenue (anticipated to raise $3bn, which would be a 216% increase over the figures from Qatar).

Match-day revenue means ticket prices and hospitality. There will be 104 matches over the next month and ticket prices have soared. When the bid from Canada, Mexico and the USA was submitted to FIFA, the proposed face value of tickets (excluding hospitality packages) ranged from $21 to $323 for group matches increasing to $128 to $1,550 for the final. This proposal compared favourably with prices from the Qatar World Cup – where there was significant fan criticism at the cost of match-day tickets.

In reality, match-day tickets have been listed at prices that are eye-wateringly expensive. In LA, where the US team will play, the average price of the ‘cheapest seats’ is $1,028 (about double what the average US family spends on food each month!). In Miami, where Scotland will play, ticket prices for group stage matches are averaging around $900.

And it’s not just in USA venues where tickets are extortionate. In Mexico, the average ticket price for the opening match was $1,300. Tickets for the final have been going for $10,000.

The last time the World Cup was in the USA (in 1994) the average ticket cost $58 and the most expensive ticket for the final was $475. The increase in pricing, adjusted for inflation, is an astonishing 1,000% (US wages, over the same period, adjusted for inflation, have risen by only 32%).

As the great Scottish manager Jock Stein once said: ‘football without fans is nothing’ and at these prices ordinary fans are being driven out of football!

Ticket pricing is not the only controversy at this World Cup.

Hundreds of fans from across the globe have discovered, very late on, that they have had visas revoked, often because they posted negative comments about Trump on their social media. For these fans the costs of hotels, travels and tickets have been lost.

And it’s not just fans who are facing travel restrictions.

Somali referee Omar Aryan was denied entry to the US. The reason seems to be, well: ‘He’s Somali’. The racism of US Immigration services was also on show when players from Senegal were stopped, searched and screened on the airport tarmac on arrival at San Antonio airport, Texas. Members of the Uzbekistan team were subjected to increased screening and players from Iran told they could not stay in the US, forcing them to Mexico and to fly in just before matches (and leave immediately after each game).

Faced with these attacks on referees, teams and players, FIFA President Infantino claimed these were beyond FIFA’s control, and were ‘minor inconveniences’. This is the same Infantino who awarded the (made up) FIFA Peace Prize to Trump in a toe-curling ceremony last year, who banned Russia from FIFA tournaments due to the war in Ukraine, whilst failing to act on Israel’s continued involvement in global football tournaments.