So, back to the World Cup. The one that’s supposed to inspire a generation. The one that’s coming to the USA, Canada and Mexico and landing right on the doorstep of millions of soccer-mad families.

But guess what the boys at FIFA have just clocked onto? Dynamic pricing. That sure-fire money-making machine. And they’ve gone to work on World Cup tickets like there’s no tomorrow. The golden goose has been given the green light.

How much?!

So if you’d like to take your kids to watch the World Cup Final in New Jersey this summer, FIFA would like you to hand over up to $11,000 for a single ticket. That’s not a hospitality package. That’s just a seat. A seat in Section 342. Probably behind a pillar.

And it doesn’t stop there. Four tickets for the final have already appeared on FIFA’s own official resale site – priced at $2.3 million each. Each. Not four. Each.

Even the GOAT himself, Pep Guardiola, has had enough, publicly criticising ticket prices this week. “Soccer is for the fans,” he said. If Pep says it’s true, that’s good enough for us at Family F.C.

The ‘beautiful game’ has an even newer price tag

When the 1994 World Cup came to the US, families packed stadiums. Tickets were affordable. Kids went. Kids were inspired. A generation of new American soccer players were born.

Peter Moore, former CEO of Liverpool FC, put it better than we could: “It’s the regular fans that create the excitement at the World Cup, from Brazil, Colombia, Africa. How are they going to afford to travel and come to games when it’s $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 per ticket? Who’s got that kind of money?”

Not most families. That’s who.

The backlash is real

The World Cup is expected to generate over $13 billion. Wouldn’t it be something if a little of that pricing dynamism was fed back into the algorithm to produce ticket prices real people could actually afford? Just a thought, Gianni.

And the backlash is growing. European consumer rights organisations and Football Supporters Europe have now filed a formal complaint to the European Commission over the ticket costs. When fans have gone to that length, you know something has gone seriously wrong.

Growing the game…for some people

Here’s the bit that really irks. FIFA’s official line is that the 2026 World Cup will ‘grow the game’ across North America. It will ‘inspire a new generation.’ It will ‘leave a legacy.’ You might even assume that word salad comes from AI knocking out the press release.

Because let’s not forget how kids actually fall in love with soccer. In the real world. It’s not just from watching it on TV. It’s from being there. From seeing Messi turn a defender inside out from thirty yards and hit a screamer into the top corner. From hearing 80,000 people erupt.

And from the car journey home, when that’s the only conversation to be had.

FIFA knows this. They just appear to have decided that the corporate dollar is where it’s at. FIFA talks a good game about unity and the “soccer family” but when it comes to actual families, parents and children sharing a matchday experience, there’s a noticeable silence.

So what can we actually do?

We’re not here to tell you to get on your soapbox and bang on about how duplicitous FIFA can be.

We’re here to offer something more useful. Because soccer is for everyone. A World Cup ticket, sadly, isn’t.

At Family F.C., we’ve built something that FIFA can’t dynamically price out of your reach: proper, structured soccer coaching for children aged 4 to 11, designed by FA and UEFA-licensed coaches, available for less per month than a single World Cup matchday programme.

Our goal is simple. While FIFA is busy turning the World Cup into a money-making machine, we’d like to make sure the kids who can’t get inside the stadium are still getting better at soccer and having fun with their families.

Because the next generation of World Cup soccer players aren’t being made in corporate hospitality suites. It’s going to be in gardens, parks and school playgrounds, where parents put in the time and enjoy being there with their kids.

The World Cup should belong to everyone

We genuinely hope FIFA fills those stadiums. We hope kids get to go and that it sparks something in them. We hope the tournament is everything it’s supposed to be.

But we also know that for 99.9% of soccer families, the 2026 World Cup will be watched at home. And that’s fine. Because what really counts is the next morning, when your kid grabs a ball and starts trying to recreate what they saw. That’s where the dreams are made.

That’s the time and the place we’re here for.

Ready to join in? Try Family F.C. free today – links in the header above or search “Family F.C.” in the app stores. No $11,000 ticket required. Promise.