Football fans with disabilities are struggling to buy companion tickets for World Cup games with some seats that had been assigned for caregivers appearing to be put on general sale.
The Guardian has uncovered significant issues with the World Cup ticket sales process for fans with disabilities, including:
Wheelchair users who have secured a match ticket being unable to buy an accompanying ticket for a caregiver
Companion seats being made available to buy in isolation, without proof of a prior wheelchair or accessible purchase, in stage four of Fifa’s sale process earlier this month
Wheelchair and accessible seating being priced higher than general admission tickets on Fifa’s official resale marketplace across a wide range of matches
An inability by Fifa to guarantee that fans who have bought companion tickets will be seated next to the wheelchair user they are accompanying
Fifa’s accessible ticketing policy has been widely criticized since tickets first went on sale last year, with the world governing body charging for companion seats for the first time.
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Combined with a general increase in ticket prices since the 2022 Qatar World Cup, where prices for accessible tickets to group-stage matches started at $10, compared with $140-$450 this summer, Football Supporters Europe claims that the result will be fans with disabilities paying 38 times more for tickets than they did four years ago.
The price of accessible parking at stadiums, which ranges from $125 for group games in Philadelphia to $300 in Los Angeles, is another major concern.
Securing companion tickets has also been a significant issue, even for fans who have successfully obtained a wheelchair seat. The Guardian has spoken to numerous fans in Europe and the United States who have been unable to buy companion tickets or spent months attempting to do so.
One fan who paid $525 for a category two wheelchair amenity seat for a group-stage game last November told the Guardian they had spent months chasing Fifa to buy a companion seat without success.
Another supporter who has been unable to buy an additional ticket for their caregiver contacted the Guardian to express frustration that companion seats were showing up as available on general sale in Fifa’s fourth ticket release on 1 April, with no prior purchase necessary.
Other fans remarked that after spending months chasing Fifa for a companion ticket the price had risen significantly from the time of their initial purchase last autumn.
Another widespread complaint is that attempts to contact Fifa result in an automated response including a copy of its terms and conditions, with no other assistance.
Problems securing companion seats appear to be limited to stadiums in the United States and Canada. For games in Mexico there are no explicit companion seats, with wheelchair ticketholders invited to buy an additional ticket when checking out their purchase.
A Fifa source said that selling disabled and companion tickets in the American market was challenging, as US legislation prevents vendors from demanding proof of disability.
They added that their ability to influence their ticket resale platform was severely limited by the nature of the American market, which does not permit price capping even for accessible tickets.
The problem appears particularly pronounced in the US, where four companion seats for each wheelchair user have been allocated in some stadiums. As a result the issue may be one of oversupply, with an abundance of companion tickets appearing on the market for some matches.
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