Complaints that the 2026 World Cup, hosted largely by the USA, is a rip off have been widespread and constant. But it's not just the prices that are making it feel impossible for football fans with disabilities.
Disabled fans have struggled to get tickets for this year's tournamentImage: Matt Impey/Shutterstock/IMAGO
Advertisement
People with disabilities are being shut out of the 2026 World Cup, according to fans and rights campaigners.
In stark contrast to previous tournaments, this year's event in the US, Canada and Mexico, has no separate ticket ballot, is charging for companions who usually go free and has failed to provide free or reduced cost accessible parking. And that's without mentioning the cost of the tickets themselves.
"I originally was going and thinking America would be amazing, and Canada and Mexico too. I've been many times. I know you can get about, the transport is all set up, hotels, everything is accessible, so you didn't have any of that worry. But now the whole thing about ticketing... it's just impossible to get tickets," England fan Jo McNicol told DW.
"I just think they've priced people out. They've not restricted it, so anyone can get a wheelchair ticket, an accessible ticket. You don't have to prove you need one, which is what you normally do."
Profit before people?
McNicol has been a regular at club matches and international tournaments for many years and was at the last World Cup in Qatar, where she found the accessibility "fabulous". There, she said, fans with disabilities were given a proportion of the available tickets to purchase upon proof of their disability, as is also generally the case in sporting events in Europe.
Given that, McNicol booked a flight and rented a campervan for a trip this year. But she has been unable to secure tickets through the ballot system run by tournament organizers FIFA and is now unlikely to attend.
The organization has come under fire for excessive profiteering. This has included: the high initial prices of tickets, adding new higher categories to tickets without announcement, moving people's seats after purchase, making transport and parking much more expensive than normal and profiting from a 15% levy on buyer and seller in a newly-introduced resale portal.
With category 4 tickets, the cheapest, seemingly not available for disabled fans —perhaps because they are found in the furthest, highest corners of the ground — McNicol and those like her can only access category 3 and above through said portal. This is despite no matches having been announced by FIFA as sold out. The BBC reported earlier this month that the cheapest category 3 ticket for England's opening match is $898 (€762), up from a face value of $265.
Advertisement
Disabled fans pay twice
James Flanagan from advocacy group Football Supporters Europe said tickets in Qatar were available to fans with disabilities for about $10 and that FIFA's current policies are a "step back" that is "excluding people with disabilities from the tournament."
With many requiring assistance at matches, Flanagan said charging for a companion was an extra penalty.
"Charging for a companion ticket, which FIFA have included in their policies, effectively doubles the cost," he told DW. "Accessible parking will also not be discounted. All of this will challenge fans with disabilities, and time is running out to change."
"They won't even guarantee that the PA [companion] ticket is going to be next to you," said McNicol, who uses a wheelchair. "But you need them. If I drop something on the floor, I can't pick it up. If I want to use the bathroom, I need help. And also you just want to sit with someone that you want to sit with, rather than sit with a bunch of strangers. You want that choice."
Fans ignored by FIFA
FIFA's policy is that "companions will be seated as close to you as possible. However, the exact seat location cannot be guaranteed, and FIFA Ticketing cannot ensure that it will be immediately adjacent to your seat."
Flanagan sees this as unacceptable. "It is not a choice that people have to have a companion with them. That is a necessity, and it's an unfair financial burden on people with disabilities. We believe that the policy contradicts FIFA's own commitments on inclusion and human rights," he said.
Boycotts, bans and no-shows: Notable World Cup absentees
Iran have qualified for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, but their participation is in doubt. This would not be the first time a nation has missed the event — for varied reasons.
Image: Deccio Serrano/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Uruguay 1930: Europeans
The first World Cup was hosted by Uruguay in 1930 and featured 13 teams, just four of which were from Europe: France, Belgium, Romania and Yugoslavia. The paucity of European teams wasn't due to a boycott but largely had to do with funds being short during the Great Depression and the difficulty of traveling such a long distance by sea. It would be linked to a boycott at the next World Cup.
Image: Schirner Sportfoto/picture alliance
Italy 1934: Uruguay
Italy both hosted and won their first World Cup in 1934. Being held there meant there were no major barriers to other European teams taking part, but just two came from South America. Uruguay reportedly gave the tournament a miss in protest against the fact that so few European teams had turned out four years earlier. It was the only time a defending champion has missed the subsequent World Cup.
Image: Buzzi/IMAGO
France 1938: Uruguay, Argentina, Austria, Spain
The first World Cup to be hosted by France was hit by another boycott, with Argentina joining Uruguay in refusing to compete due to their shared belief that the event should alternate between Europe and South America. Austria, who had qualified for the event, were also absent, as Nazi Germany had taken over the country two months earlier. Spain didn't participate due to the Spanish Civil War.
Image: Schirner Sportfoto/IMAGO
Brazil 1950: Germany, Japan, others
Five years after World War II, the World Cup was held in Brazil. The two defeated and occupied Axis powers, Germany and Japan, remained excluded from FIFA. Germany, then divided, had been expelled and Japan suspended in 1945. Both would be readmitted weeks after the conclusion of the World Cup. Several other countries either refused to enter or withdrew before the tournament, for various reasons.
Image: dpa/picture alliance
Sweden 1958: Indonesia, Egypt, Sudan, Israel
Pele exploded onto the global football stage in 1958, but largely forgotten is that Israel was still part of the Asian Football Confederation. Israel had won the single World Cup place assigned to Asia/Africa, as several countries had refused to face them. FIFA decided that they couldn't qualify without playing a game, so a playoff was set up. Wales won – keeping Israel out of the World Cup.
Image: Horstmüller/IMAGO
England 1966: All African teams
An entire continent boycotted the 1966 World Cup. As FIFA had designated just one World Cup spot to be competed for by teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania, the Confederation of African Football pulled its members out of qualifying. African teams may have been excluded, but not African players; Portugal featured four Africa-born players, including the tournament's top goal scorer, Eusebio (left).
Image: United Archives/picture alliance
South Africa: 1961-1992
South Africa are to make their fourth appearance at a World Cup this summer, having made their debut in France in 1998 and hosted the tournament in 2010. Until 1991, though South Africa had been excluded from entering qualifying for the World Cup for decades due to apartheid. FIFA had expelled the SAFA in 1961 but readmitted it in 1992 – following the end of the apartheid system.
Image: Markus Gilliar/GES-Sportfoto/picture alliance
West Germany 1974: USSR
Chilean captain Francisco Valdes (third from left) and his men took a curious path to the 1974 World Cup after the USSR refused to play a qualifying playoff in the National Stadium in Santiago, where Chile's military junta was known to have been executing political opponents. FIFA declined to move the match and Valdes scored into an open Soviet goal to send Chile to the World Cup.
Image: WEREK/IMAGO
Iran: 1980s
Iran made their first World Cup appearance in Argentina in 1978, where they earned a single point in a 1-1 draw with Scotland. However, following the Islamic revolution in the country a year later, Iran would miss the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. In 1982 Iran withdrew from qualifying and four years later it was barred from qualifying by FIFA for refusing to play its home games on neutral grounds.
Italy 1990: Mexico
Notable by their absence from the 1990 World Cup were Hugo Sanchez's Mexico. Fans in Italy weren't treated to any of his famous back-flip goal celebrations, because FIFA had banned Mexican teams from football for two years for using four over-age players in their U-20 team at the 1988 CONCACAF U-20 tournament — in what became known as the "Cachirules" affair.
Image: Allstar Picture Library Ltd/IMAGO
Qatar 2022: Russia
After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, FIFA suspended all Russian national and club teams. The ban came weeks before Russia's men's national team were to play Poland in the semifinals of a European World Cup qualifying playoff. Russian teams remain suspended, although FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has recently said that he would like to lift the ban.
Image: Alexander Vilf/SNA/IMAGO
USA, Canada, Mexico 2026: Iran
With all three of Iran's group games at the 2026 World Cup to be played in the US and with the US-Israeli war on Iran ongoing, its participation is very much in doubt. Iran has said the team plans to "boycott" matches in the US, but doesn't intend to withdraw from the tournament. FIFA has not indicated any willingness to accede to Iran's request to have their games moved to Mexico.
Image: Deccio Serrano/NurPhoto/picture alliance
12 images1 | 12
"FIFA needs to listen to people with disabilities, and I don't think fans are being consulted."
With public transport limited at many venues, parking is also a bone of contention for fans with disabilities. While FIFA's general accessibility policy does make note that disabled parking "should be provided and located next to the stadium or close by" it does not suggest it should be free or subsidized. And it isn't.
"Currently, fans are being asked to fork out extortionate prices for match tickets, but also $150 to $300 on an accessible parking depending on the venue," added Flanagan. "The prices that these fans have to pay are just not acceptable."
