Scotland coach Steve Clarke has urged fans to avoid going into debt to attend next year’s FIFA World Cup in North America, warning of high travel and ticket costs.
Last week, Football Supporters Europe (FSE) asked FIFA to immediately suspend the sale of tickets for national teams, accusing football’s highest governing body of imposing “extortionate” prices that threaten to exclude ordinary fans from the tournament.
According to the FSE, ticket prices have increased fivefold compared to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
will face five-time champions Morocco, semi-finalists in 2022, and Haiti in Group C, with thousands of fans expected to see the team compete in its first World Cup since 1998.
“Look, going to the United States is already expensive anyway. Even if you are going on vacation in the United States, you need to save, save and save to cross the Atlantic and enjoy your vacation there,” Clarke told “Sky Sports” on Monday (15).
“So we always knew it would be an expensive World Cup. Ticket prices are set by FIFA. My biggest wish is that people don’t go into too much debt to go. If you can afford to go, great. But if you can’t, I understand.”
“Don’t go into debt or put your families in debt. I would like to believe that with the smaller budget we have, a lot of fans will travel everywhere. I’m talking about going to remote places, but maybe only 1,200 people will show up.”
FIFA has not responded directly to the outrage caused by the high prices, but said last week it had received five million orders of tickets for the 2026 World Cup in the first 24 hours of the last sales phase.
