A controversial ticket sale system for next summer's World Cup in North America has seen FIFA accused of pricing fans out of attending the competition.
For fans of the Belgian national team, who are among the tournament favourites, attending matches in person could set them back tens of thousands of euros.
The Red Devils will kick off their campaign on 15 June against Egypt in Seattle, before facing Iran six days later in Los Angeles and then wrapping up the group stage against New Zealand in Vancouver. The tournament, which is being hosted by Mexico, the United States, and Canada, will end on 15 July with the final in New Jersey.
A 'monumental betrayal'
The fixed prices for tickets specifically set aside for fans of the countries taking part have been labelled as exorbitant by various fan groups, while FIFA has also been criticised for its use of "dynamic pricing". Football Supporters Europe notably calculated that it would cost an individual supporter at least $6,900 (around €5,900) to follow their team from the first group stage all the way to the final.
The fan association was "astonished by the extortionate ticket prices imposed by FIFA on the most dedicated supporters," adding that the pricing system was a "monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle."
Football's global governing body announced a concession later in the week, with the price of several batches of tickets being lowered to $60 (around €50). According to FSE, the latest revision is still insufficient.
For each match, up to and including the final, 500 Category 4 tickets in the upper reaches of the host stadiums have been made available. "We would like to thank FIFA for prioritising dialogue with its partners in order to meet the supporters' expectations," the Belgian FA said in a statement.
Waiting lists for fan club members
However, the $60 tickets will only be available to members of the 'Fan Club 1895', the official Red Devils supporters' group. The Belgian FA has already begun contacting fans who have accumulated the most 'points' through attending national team matches.
Belgium fans have been granted a ticket allocation of roughly 8% of seats per match, with priority access going to Fan Club 1895. Supporters will have needed to register as members by the start of December in order to have a spot on the waiting list, which was sent out on 2 December.
Once tickets to the official supporters' club are allocated, the Belgian FA will then organise two general sale windows: 10 to 24 February, and 1 April until July.
For tickets which have not been set aside for fans of specific teams, the 'random selection draw', which FIFA says has seen more than 20 million requests, remains open until 13 January.
For Belgium's group stage matches, tickets outside of the fixed allocation in Category 3 will cost between $140 (around €120) for Seattle and Vancouver to $240 (around €205) for Los Angeles. On resale websites, though, prices for those matches have soared to over $500 (around €425), according to data collected by ticketdata.com.
