Washington DC [US], June 10 (ANI): Former FIFA official, Miguel Poiares Maduro, has criticised the ticket pricing strategy for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, claiming the tournament has been overshadowed by profit-driven priorities, according to ABC News.

Tickets for this year's World Cup are the most expensive in the tournament's history, with premium seats for the final selling for nearly $16,000, which is almost six times the price of equivalent tickets for the 2022 final in Qatar.

'You have a sport that is becoming increasingly an elite sport,' Maduro, the former chair of FIFA's governance committee, said as quoted by the ABC News.

Maduro argued that without a truly 'independent mechanisms of checks and balances', FIFA will keep prioritising revenue generation over the interests of fans and the broader football community.

'In light of the absence of any genuinely independent mechanisms of checks and balances, it's unavoidable that FIFA will continue to put the focus on getting more and more money,' he said.

Notably, Miguel Maduro was brought into FIFA in 2016 in the wake of the organisation's corruption scandals, with a mandate to strengthen governance, transparency and regulatory compliance. However, his tenure was short-lived, and he departed less than a year later after serving as one of the key figures overseeing FIFA's reform efforts.

Maduro argued that soaring World Cup ticket prices stem from a conflict of interest within FIFA, which acts both as the sport's regulator and as its primary commercial operator.

'As a regulator, FIFA ought to be making sure that the entire ecosystem of football benefits from the revenues. That means, for example, that as many fans as possible ought to have access to matches. As a commercial actor, however, the primary concern of FIFA is to maximise its income and so what we are seeing is that the commercial actor dimension is taking precedence,' he said.

Coming to the 2026 World Cup, which is being co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada, FIFA has confirmed a record-breaking participation for the upcoming event, with final squad lists revealing 1,248 players from 48 nations set to compete in the expanded global tournament.

Notably, the 2026 World Cup will feature more teams, players and matches than any previous edition of the marquee event, as per the FIFA Website.

The first match of the global showpiece event will be played between Mexico and South Africa at the Mexico City Stadium on June 11. (ANI)