Background: FIFA is the global governing body for soccer and has been running the World Cup since 1930. Founded in 1904 with just eight member nations, FIFA has since expanded to 211 members and overseen 22 World Cups. But the organisation has also faced repeated controversy over the years:

• Major corruption scandals in 2015
• Criticism surrounding worker deaths and human rights concerns

What happened: Now, FIFA is facing fresh scrutiny over ticket pricing for the 2026 World Cup in the US. The organisation took some heat earlier this year after selling tickets at extremely high prices, in some cases costing thousands of dollars. FIFA defended the pricing by claiming there was enormous demand, with its President saying there had been 500 million ticket requests for just 7 million available tickets.

What else: The controversy escalated after FIFA later admitted it had only sold around 1 million tickets from that sales release. That's now triggered legal action from the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey, who are investigating whether FIFA artificially inflated demand... to justify higher ticket prices.

What's the key learning?

💡 Artificial price inflation is when companies bump up prices or create fake demand to make something seem more valuable than it actually is.

💡 Companies that mislead customers on pricing can face regulatory and legal consequences. Ticketmaster was forced to change parts of its sales process after UK regulators found customers were misled during sales for Oasis reunion tickets, where some tickets reportedly increased by more than £200 through dynamic pricing.

💡 If FIFA is ultimately found to have artificially inflated demand or ticket prices, the organisation could face significant legal and financial consequences. But with FIFA reportedly generating around $13 billion over the past three years, the bigger impact may fall on fans who were priced out of attending the tournament in the first place.