Fifa’s lack of concern for African football’s key money-spinner has led to inadequate preparation time

With the hosts, Morocco, taking on the island nation of Comoros in the Africa Cup of Nations opener in Rabat on Sunday, there is no mistaking the excitement across the continent. Football is akin to a religion among Africa’s largely young population, with 60% of its 1.5 billion people under the age of 25.

But the timing of this Afcon, to be played over the Christmas and New Year period in Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Agadir, Tangier and Fez, has never happened since the tournament began in 1957, igniting a storm of anger throughout the African football community.

A Guardian study of past ticket prices for the men’s World Cup, compared with current 2026 figures, shows how the barrier for entry has been raised for most fans

In the past, a fan’s ability to attend a World Cup hosted in their nation hinged more on bid books than their checkbooks. For 2026 in the US, Mexico and Canada, even the least expensive tickets are a luxury commodity by comparison.

An analysis by the Guardian of men’s World Cup ticket pricing shows that amid the general rise in ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup, the most extreme of those hikes have often applied to the cheapest tickets. The analysis is based on official Fifa pricing dating back to 1994, with more robust data available starting in 2006. Prices for 2026 games are accurate as of 16 December 2025, and do not include the 1.6% of sellable tickets for each game that Fifa recently made available for a fixed $60 price.

The US host city’s resolve in maintaining its ‘Pride Match’ should be commended as exactly the sort of thing this tournament is for

There are two World Cups. The product, marketed and monetized for all it will yield, and the experience.

Only one of those is the real thing. And in one case, it’s holding strong. In Seattle, the local organizing committee long ago designated the 26 June game slated for Lumen Field as the “Pride Match” to mark the city’s LGBTQ+ pride weekend celebration.

Fifa has made big mistakes over 2026 tournament but it can afford to slash prices and even give some tickets away

Who is the World Cup for? Fifa appeared to share some of its thinking on this topic in the past week. On the one hand, there was the revelation that spectators are being asked to pay more than twice as much for match tickets than they were in Qatar. On the other, the news that prize money for competing teams is to rise by more than 50% on four years ago. Stakeholders are doing good! Fans? Not so good.

It hasn’t taken long for some of those watching to wonder whether things could be done differently. Tom Greatrex, the chair of the Football Supporters’ Association, which represents fans in England and Wales, argued that the ability to pay expanded prize money, itself a result of expanded revenue, showed “there is no need to charge extortionate ticket prices to the supporters who bring the vibrancy to the World Cup”. You could go so far as to say there was never a real need to do it in the first place.

• The two African nations join Haiti and Iran on ban list

• Fans may face restrictions when entering US

A proclamation signed by President Trump widened his administration’s ongoing travel restrictions on Tuesday to include the 2026 World Cup participants Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

The two African nations were added to the travel ban list with what the White House statement said were “partial restrictions and entry limitations,” currently the least restrictive category among the full group of nations covered, which now numbers 39 after Tuesday’s announcement. The sweeping travel ban already includes two countries who will participate in the World Cup: Haiti and Iran, both of whom are subject to the most stringent restrictions.

• Prices for the ‘supporter entry’ tier are capped at $60

• Tier will be available to supporters for all 104 games

• Allocation will comprise 1.6% of available tickets

Amid backlash against exorbitant prices for the 2026 World Cup, Fifa on Tuesday announced that it had created a new tier of tickets specifically for supporters of the involved teams for each game, with prices capped at $60 per ticket for every match of the tournament, including the final.

The new pricing category will be part of the allotment of tickets distributed by the associations for the participating teams, who each get 8% of available tickets for every match they play. The new pricing tier, called the entry tier, will comprise 10% of that 8% allotment, or 1.6% of all available tickets taking into account both sets of supporters. Given the size of most 2026 World Cup stadiums, that amounts to a little over 1,000 tickets per match available at that price point, split evenly between supporters of both teams.