FIFA greed cup

The biggest-ever FIFA World Cup kicks off tomorrow with a match between South Africa and Mexico, which is co-hosting the 48-nation tournament along with the US and Canada. But for all of FIFA's claims of making the tournament more accessible by adding more teams, world football's governing body is going out of its way to ensure that most average football fans can't even dream of attending any of the games.

FIFA's excuse has been that the US is a wealthy nation and fans can afford tickets. But the fact is that even the 'cheap seats' for matches between weak teams cost more than prime seats for group stage matches between top teams at previous editions of the tournament. Meanwhile, rich tourists who can afford the tickets are also wary of going to the US because of the Trump administration's anti-immigrant policies. As things stand, the beautiful game is being turned into a grotesque spectacle of greed and xenophobia.

For the first time, FIFA has deployed a dynamic pricing model that has turned ticket sales into a casino operation. While earlier tournaments saw final tickets around $600, prices for this year's final have surged to an astonishing $57,000, with a few tickets on official reselling websites going for $2 million each. Semi-final seats now exceed $34,000.

But FIFA's extortion of its fans pales next to the Trump administration's cruelty. While restrictions on fans from Iran are unsurprising, the president's travel bans have also left supporters from Haiti, Senegal and Côte d' Ivoire watching from home. Even an award-winning Somali referee was accused of having ties to the al-Shabaab terrorist group and denied entry at Miami airport, despite holding a diplomatic passport and a valid visa.

But despite the contempt in which regular fans are held by FIFA and the US, the true spirit of football refuses to die. The same fans are still skimping and saving to support their teams. They will fill the stands when they can, share songs, and defy this cynical corporate-political machine. Their passion is the one thing FIFA cannot commodify and Trump cannot ban. Let's hope the football on the pitch - the artistry, the upsets, the joy - wins in the end. After all, the game has always belonged to the people, not the profiteers.