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Fifa raises top ticket price for World Cup final to $10,990, up from $1,600 in 2022 | Fifa

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Fifa raised its top ticket price for the World Cup final to $10,990 during the glitch-hampered reopening of sales on Wednesday after the 48-team field for this year’s tournament was finalized.

The top price for the final had been $8,680 when Fifa sold tickets after the tournament draw in December. Fifa’s Category 2 tickets for the 19 July game at MetLife Stadium are now $7,380, up from $5,575, and Category 3 now costs $5,785, an increase from $4,185.

The most expensive ticket for the final of the 2022 World Cup was priced at about $1,600.

Tickets were listed for the final and 17 of the 72 group-stage matches by Wednesday night.

Fifa is using dynamic pricing for the tournament, which will be played across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Football’s governing body did not announce which games and price categories were available in the new wave of tickets, leaving fans to search themselves on a Fifa website that often took hours to enter.

Some people who clicked on what Fifa called its “last-minute sales phase” when the process opened on Wednesday morning were directed into a queue for “PMA late qualifier supporters sales phase,” aimed for a segment of fans for the six nations who earned berths on Tuesday. Fifa did not have an explanation for why the link misdirection occurred but said around noon that the links were working properly.

Fifa also said that not all remaining tickets were being put on sale and that additional tickets will be released on a rolling basis.

Fifa said this phase, which will remain open through the tournament, marked the first time a specific seat location could be bought rather than a request for a ticket in a category.

For the month-long sales phase after the World Cup draw in December, tickets were priced at $140 to $8,680. After complaints, Fifa said $60 tickets would be made available to each participating national federation for their most loyal supporters, an amount likely to be 400-700 per team for each match.

The use of dynamic pricing has come under criticism from fans and lawmakers.

“The employment of dynamic ticket pricing for the 2026 FWC starkly contrasts with Fifa’s core mission to promote the accessible and inclusive promotion and development of soccer globally,” 69 Democratic members of US Congress wrote in a letter to Fifa president Gianni Infantino last month. “Despite host cities’ cooperation in bringing the vision of the largest, most global World Cup in history to fruition, the consequences of dynamic pricing will make the 2026 FWC the most financially exclusionary and inaccessible to date.”

Fifa also has its own resale market, in which it collects 15% from both the buyer and seller.

Infantino claimed in January that the amount of ticket requests Fifa had received was the equivalent of “the request for 1,000 years of World Cups at once.”

It was unclear if many of those requests were for seats in the lowest-price categories.

Fan groups have voiced concern over the soaring costs for resold tickets and one filed a formal complaint to the European Commission last month.

Infantino defended Fifa’s cut of resales, saying the governing body was engaged in a legal commercial activity under US law. Some European countries have laws which can restrict resale by requiring tickets to be sold for face value or only by authorized partners of the event organizers.



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European stock markets hit record high and oil price falls to three-month low after US-Iran peace deal – business live | Business

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European stock markets hit record high

European stock markets have hit a record high at the start of trading, as relief over the US-Iran peace deal ripples across global markets.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index has jumped by 0.9% to 639 points, over the previous record high set just before the Iran war started, with shares rising in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan.

Mining and travel companies are driving the rally, while oil company shares are sliding.

That follows sharp gains in Asia-Pacific markets overnight, where Japan’s Nikkei surged by 5% on hopes that the strait of Hormuz will reopen within days.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says global equity markets are starting the week firmly on the front foot after President Trump announced that a deal with Iran had been reached, adding:

double quotation markThe move has given investors a clear reason to dial back some of the geopolitical risk premium that has hung over markets, especially as the Strait of Hormuz is expected to reopen and oil prices move sharply lower.

Energy prices have been one of the clearest transmission channels from Middle East tensions into inflation, bond yields and equity sentiment, and there is likely to be a concerted effort to get prices down even further once this deal is finalised.

There are still details to be ironed out before markets can fully trust the agreement, but for now the direction of travel is clear: lower oil, calmer nerves and a renewed appetite for risk.

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Peace deal should keep mortgage rates down

Mortgage borrowers can breathe a sigh of relief at the news of a peace deal in Iran, says Adam French, head of consumer finance at Moneyfactscompare.co.uk.

double quotation markWhile we are far from being out of the woods yet, a lasting peace deal should dramatically reduce the risk of the Bank of England’s worst-case scenario for inflation and interest rates becoming a reality.

“Under that scenario, Base Rate could have risen to 5.25%, potentially pushing typical rates on new mortgages towards 6.75%. Instead, today’s news means mortgages rates, which have already been slowly falling for several weeks, have likely already passed their peak – at least until the next unwelcome crisis.

“Borrowers can be optimistic but with a word of caution, as inflation and economic data will continue to influence the outlook. However, a lasting peace should remove one of the biggest risks to mortgage costs and may help restore a more stable environment for hard-pressed remortgage borrowers and prospective buyers.”

Even before this morning’s drop in UK bond yields (see earlier post), average mortgage rates have dipped slightly.

Moneyfacts reports:

  • The average 2-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.61%. This is down from 5.62% the previous working day.

  • The average 5-year fixed residential mortgage rate today is 5.58%. This is down from 5.59% the previous working day.

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Roy Hattersley, former Labour deputy leader, dies aged 93

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Paying tribute, Sir Keir Starmer said Lord Hattersley “was a giant of the Labour movement”.



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A £350 swimming pool fee ruined our easyJet holiday | Consumer rights

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My partner and I paid £2,150 for a week’s all-inclusive break in Marrakech with easyJet Holidays.

We chose the Jaal Riad Resort Hotel because of its pool and spa. When we arrived, we were told that use of the heated pool cost £24 a person an hour, the Jacuzzi £24 for 20 minutes, and the hammam was £16 for 20 minutes.

Nowhere were these extra fees listed when booking. EasyJet Holidays rejected my complaint and referred me to a line buried at the bottom of the list of facilities that said charges may apply. We were planning on using the pool regularly but could not afford it. If we had known, we would have booked elsewhere.
DP,
Cambridgeshire

Hidden charges can hugely inflate the cost of holidays. Resort fees are the most pernicious – some hotels charge up to £50 a person a day for facilities whether or not they are used.

Then there’s the daily tourist tax levied via the accommodation provider during the stay in some countries, and ancillary fees for upgraded wifi for sun loungers.

EasyJet Holidays makes a big deal of the pool – it’s a prominent photo on the webpage for the hotel.

No asterisk refers potential bookers to the crucial caveat that a couple, wishing to avail themselves once a day during a week’s stay, would have to pay almost £350 extra.

Even the eagle-eyed who alighted on the paragraph of small print at the bottom of the page, would be none the wiser.

Enjoy the pool! (T&Cs apply, may cost £24 an hour per person, please read small print) Photograph: Maria Korneeva/Getty Images

Only after declaring that the facilities are subject to height and weight restrictions, seasonal availability, opening times, and age and dress code, does it mention that they “may” attract additional charges. These are not listed.

This is potentially unlawful, according to consumer lawyer Gary Rycroft.

“The facilities were prominently marketed as part of the holiday experience, and extra charges were not clearly disclosed before purchase,” he says. “Under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act 2024, businesses must not omit material information that would influence a consumer’s decision about whether to enter into a contract.”

EasyJet is defensive. “We always strive to make it clear that use of hotel facilities may incur additional charges,” it told me.

The company said then that it was reviewing the description to “further highlight that the use of the spa facilities is chargeable”, although, at the time of writing, three weeks later, the webpage remained unchanged. It has also now offered a £500 goodwill payment.

As the holiday season begins, you need to read the small print to avoid nasty surprises.

We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions.



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