Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, raised concerns about the absence of fan segregation at the 2026 World Cup during matches in Dallas. Unlike previous tournaments, most group-stage games have featured fans of both teams mingling freely throughout venues.
"What is worrying is that FIFA doesn't really know who has tickets here and there," Evain told BBC Sport. "By pushing so much for people to buy tickets and re-sell them, the possibility to have fans from Team A in the middle of the crowd of Team B is stronger than ever before."
While FIFA allocates 8% of match tickets to participating nations' supporters, the lack of control over resale platforms means the organization cannot track which supporters own tickets in secondary markets. "Fifa has zero control with what's happening with these tickets," Evain said, noting the difficulty in implementing mitigation measures.
Over one million fans attended the first 16 World Cup matches, with stadiums at 99.34% capacity according to FIFA data. Evain also noted concerns that some supporters were prevented from bringing flags into Dallas Stadium.