Category World News

Football’s leading fan organisations have demanded FIFA immediately stop selling tickets for next year’s World Cup, to be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico, warning that prices reaching nearly $9,000 for premium final seats will exclude supporters from the tournament.

Football Supporters Europe, which called the ticket pricing “extortionate”, issued the call on Thursday after national associations began circulating price lists showing costs up to seven times higher than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The group described the pricing structure as a “monumental betrayal” of the tournament’s traditions and called for urgent consultations before sales continue.

A fan attending every match next June and July from the group stage through the championship game faces costs of at least $6,900 via official supporter channels, based on price details released by Germany, England and Croatia’s football federations.

Premium tickets for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in New York are priced at $8,680, compared with roughly $1,600 for the equivalent category in Qatar.

FIFA is already under the microscope in the wake of its President Gianni Infantino’s effusive praise for US President Donald Trump and the doling out by the world football governing body of an inaugural peace prize award to the US leader, who was infuriated to be bypassed for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

That has triggered a formal complaint over ethics violations and political neutrality. Human rights group FairSquare said on Tuesday that it has filed a complaint with FIFA’s ethics committee, claiming the organisation’s behaviour was against the common interests of the global football community.

The latest controversy comes as FIFA began its third phase of ticket sales, with variable pricing now applied to group stage matches based on what the governing body terms fixture “attractiveness”, though it has not explained how this is calculated.

England’s opening match against Croatia carries a $523 price tag for seats behind the goal, while Scotland supporters will pay less for comparable matches, creating what critics call an opaque two-tier system.

“For the prices that have been put up by FIFA, we’re a bit stunned,” Football Supporters Europe executive director Ronan Evain said.

He warned that final tickets approaching $4,000 would strip stadiums of the atmosphere that makes the tournament compelling, adding that “none of this will happen” at current pricing levels.

Henry Winter, a prominent football writer in the UK, cautioned that excluding passionate supporters who generate atmosphere risks turning the competition into what he termed the “Corporate Games,” potentially leaving broadcasters, who pay FIFA substantial sums, facing empty seats and muted crowds.

For fans travelling from outside North America, the financial burden extends far beyond tickets. Gary Al-Smith, who covers African football, noted that supporters “will fly in from outside the US, spend on lodging and feeding,” warning this would prove “one helluva costly World Cup for fans”.

The pricing represents a dramatic departure from FIFA’s 2018 bid document for the tournament across the US, Canada and Mexico, which projected group stage tickets starting at $21.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose case has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the United States, has been freed from detention on a judge’s order and returned to his home, according to reports.

Abrego Garcia was due to check in with US immigration officials on Friday, The Associated Press news agency reported, a day after returning to his home following his release from an immigration processing centre in the latest twist in a convoluted case of deportation and detention targeting the Maryland man.

In a ruling on Thursday, US District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to let Abrego Garcia go immediately, writing that federal authorities had detained him again after his return to the US without any legal basis.

The face of Trump’s hardline immigration policies

Abrego Garcia has an American wife and children and has lived in Maryland for years, under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in his home country by a gang that targeted his family. He originally moved to the US without documentation as a teenager.

He then became the highest-profile case among more than 200 people sent to the notorious El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in the US.

He was wrongfully deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador in March. A court later ordered his return to the US, where he was detained again, as immigration officials sought to deport him to a series of African countries instead of El Salvador.

‘Judicial activism’

The Department of Homeland Security slammed Thursday’s ruling and said it would appeal, labelling the decision as “naked judicial activism” by a judge appointed during President Barack Obama’s administration.

“This order lacks any valid legal basis, and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said he expected his client’s ordeal was far from over, and he was preparing to defend him against further deportation efforts.

“The government still has plenty of tools in their toolbox,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said.

“We’re going to be there to fight to make sure there is a fair trial.”

The lawyer said the judge’s ruling had made it clear that the government could not detain a person indefinitely without legal authority, adding that Abrego Garcia had already “endured more than anyone should ever have to”.

Legal battles ongoing

Abrego Garcia has filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Trump administration is illegally using the deportation process to punish him due to the attention his case received.

Since his return, federal authorities have also filed charges against Abrego Garcia for alleged human smuggling related to a 2022 traffic stop.

He has pleaded not guilty and filed a motion to dismiss the charges, claiming the prosecution is vindictive.

In her ruling on Thursday, Judge Xinis said Trump lawyers “affirmatively misled” the court, including falsely claiming that Costa Rica had rescinded an offer to accept Abrego Garcia.

Abrego Garcia has said he was willing to resettle there in the event he was deported from the US.

Hong Kong’s High Court is set to hand down a verdict in the case of pro-democracy campaigner and media mogul Jimmy Lai next week, bringing an end to his lengthy national security trial.

Lai’s verdict will be delivered by a three-judge panel in a hearing that begins at 10am local time (02:00 GMT) on Monday, according to a court diary notice seen on Friday.

Founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, Lai, 78, is charged with foreign collusion under Hong Kong’s national security law, which Beijing imposed following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.

He previously pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces, as well as a third count of sedition under a colonial-era law.

Authorities accuse Lai, who has been detained since December 2020, of using the Apple Daily to conspire with six former executives and others to produce seditious publications between April 2019 and June 2021.

He is accused of using his publication to conspire with paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, activist Andy Li, and others to invite foreign countries – including the United States, Britain and Japan – to impose sanctions, blockades and other hostile measures against Hong Kong and China.

Prosecutors also accuse Lai of stoking hatred against authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong through writing and publishing more than 150 critical op-eds in the outlet.

He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Lai has been held in solitary confinement for more than 1,800 days, with his family saying they fear for his wellbeing and his health is deteriorating as he suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure, as well as heart palpitations that require medication.

In August, the court postponed closing arguments in his 156-day trial – which began in December 2023 – citing a “medical issue” involving the 78-year-old’s heart.

Authorities say Lai has received proper treatment and medical care during his detention.

Trump to do ‘everything I can to save him’

Hong Kong was handed back to China in 1997 after more than 150 years under British colonial rule.

As part of the “one country, two systems” approach, Hong Kong officially operates a separate judicial system based on Common Law traditions, meaning Lai has greater legal protections than he would in mainland China.

But Hong Kong has experienced significant democratic backsliding in recent years, which accelerated following mass pro-democracy protests in 2019-20, which resulted in a harsh crackdown on dissent in the territory by Beijing.

In 2020, Chinese authorities introduced a draconian national security law to crush the protest movement, establishing secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign organisations as crimes carrying hefty punishments.

Lai’s trial represents the most high-profile use of that law, with critics condemning his trial as politically motivated.

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments insist Lai is being given a fair trial and have said the legal process must be allowed to reach its conclusion.

But his case has drawn international scrutiny, including from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly promised to “save” Lai. In August, Trump promised to do “everything I can to save him”.

“His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump told Fox News Radio.