FIFA Announce World Cup Prize Money

The announcement comes amid fan backlash over ticket prices

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Yesterday FIFA announced a change to the face-value pricing of a small portion of each national association’s ticket allocation for the World Cup. Under the proposal, 10% of the Scottish Football Association allocation per match will be repriced at $60 per ticket.

This is not an additional allocation for the SFA. That would have represented genuine progress. This barely scratches the surface.

Instead, FIFA are reclassifying fewer than 400 tickets per match from the existing lowest “supporters value” tier into a newly created fourth category. In practical terms, just over 1% of a stadium’s capacity will be available at this affordable price point.

If FIFA were serious about responding to supporter concerns, there were several obvious alternatives. They could have reclassified tickets from the $700 “premium” tier, increased the overall national association allocation, or extended the $60 tickets beyond more than just 10% of the PMA allocation. None of that has happened.

Viewed in that context, this appears less like a meaningful concession and more like a carefully managed public relations exercise, one that does the bare minimum for fans - while preserving FIFA’s revenue model almost entirely intact.

FIFA’s announcement on Tuesday regarding the $60 tickets.

Following yesterday’s announcement, today FIFA confirmed the prize money that will be distributed to each competing nation at the World Cup. The timing feels deliberate. With FIFA facing this growing global backlash over ticket pricing and allocation, this announcement serves as a convenient reminder that national associations themselves will financially benefit from FIFA’s revenue model.

To me, the implication from FIFA is clear. FIFA exploiting fans to maximise their own revenue is subtly reframed as FIFA raising money for the fans’ own associations.

This is where football associations need to be far stronger in standing up for supporters. Ignore these deflection tactics and put pressure on FIFA to reverse some of the decisions made thus far. That pressure may already be building behind closed doors, but it also needs to be visible. Major associations such as The English and German FA’s carry significant influence and should be using it to pressurise FIFA to reverse this scandal.

The current situation is indefensible. Disabled access tickets are appearing on FIFA’s own resale platform at up to four times their original face value. That platform is uncapped, and FIFA take 30% commission on every resale. Each new revelation compounds the previous one. It’s a systemic exploitation of supporters.

This article will go into the detail of the $60 tickets, covering which SSC points threshold is guaranteed which category of ticket, before ending on today’s prize money announcement and the implication for the SFA’s profit.