Schmaltz, theatre and sharp teeth: Wrexham reveal the hard truth about football | Barney Ronay

12 décembre 2025 à 21:12

With the arrival of US hedge funders at Wrexham, there is no pretence any more. This is just another project, as it always was

Tea and cake. Cobble-close streets. Collectivism. Sugar rush. Hollywood fairytales. And also, as of this week, a minority owner with historical links to celebrity paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Wait! Welsh cakes! Welsh tea! Aggregated tourism benefits. The sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea. And also, at one remove, historical links to deceased celebrity paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Football Association to pass on fan anger over World Cup ticket prices

The Guardian

Par :Sean Ingle

12 décembre 2025 à 20:08

Prices 10 times those promised in initial bid
Fifa not expected to change policy for 2026

The Football Association will pass on England supporters’ concerns about high 2026 World Cup ticket prices to Fifa. However, despite the growing outrage, it is understood none of the international federations expect world football’s governing body to change its policy.

Anger among supporter groups continued on Friday after it emerged that the cheapest tickets will cost 10 times the price promised in the original bid for the United States, Canada and Mexico to host the tournament. For England fans it will mean having to pay at least $220 (£165) for group games – when the bid document’s ticket model stated the cheapest seats should be $21 (£15.70).

I’ve seen England at 14 major tournaments. Will I go to the 2026 World Cup? No, no, no | Philip Cornwall

The Guardian

Par :Philip Cornwall

12 décembre 2025 à 16:55

Fifa’s demand that the most fervent supporters cough up a minimum of £5,000 in advance just for tickets is scandalous

It was not mathematically confirmed until the Latvia game a month later, but as I watched Ezri Konsa turn in the third goal away to Serbia in early September I smiled to myself in the Stadion Rajko Mitic, knowing England were going to the World Cup. But immediately, a key question surfaced: was I? The answer came on Thursday, with the announcement of the ticket prices that the most loyal supporters of international football would have to pay. And that answer, emphatically, was no, as it will be for countless supporters worldwide. If you had asked me as a hypothetical what seeing England in a World Cup final was worth, I might have said: “Priceless.” But $4,185 – £3,130 – just for the match ticket? No, no, no.

As a fan, I have been to 14 tournaments – nine European Championships and five World Cups – dating back to Euro 92. I have the money, or at least could get it by dipping into my pension pot, which I was braced to do for hotels and flights. But, in a sentiment being echoed across England, Scotland and all the other qualifying nations, I’m not spending a minimum of about £5,000 simply on match tickets, the price Fifa has put on watching your team from group stage through to the final (the exact total will vary, depending on where a country’s group matches are).

Fifa urged to halt World Cup ticket sales after ‘monumental betrayal’ of fans

The Guardian

Par :Jacob Steinberg

11 décembre 2025 à 17:40

Final tickets more than £3,000; five-fold rise on Qatar
Cheapest England tickets are £165 for two Group L games

Fifa has been accused of a “monumental betrayal” by fan representatives after it emerged that the cheapest tickets for next summer’s World Cup final will cost more than £3,000.

Football Supporters Europe (FSE), which represents fans across the continent, described the prices as “extortionate” and called for an immediate halt to ticket sales after a day when England fans discovered that tickets to follow their team through the tournament could cost up to $16,590 (£12,375) in the top categories.

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