England supporters have been left stunned after it emerged that Fifa has allocated fewer tickets for the Three Lions’ World Cup opener than for Curacao, the smallest nation ever to qualify for the tournament and one with a population smaller than Milton Keynes.
For England’s opening Group L match in Dallas on June 17, supporters will be competing for just 4,022 seats, an allocation matched only by opponents Croatia.
The figure sits uneasily alongside the scale of England’s travelling fanbase, with hundreds of thousands expected to descend on the United States, Canada and Mexico next summer from a country of 58.6 million people.
By contrast, Curacao, a Dutch Caribbean island with a population of around 156,000, has been handed 4,307 tickets for its first-ever World Cup fixture against Germany on June 14.
That is 285 more seats than have been allocated to England fans, despite Curacao being roughly the size of the Isle of Wight and qualifying for the finals for the first time in history.
The disparity is striking.
Should Curacao sell its full allocation, roughly one in every 36 residents of the island will be present in Houston to witness the historic occasion.
For England, the equivalent ratio works out at one supporter per 14,570 people, even as Thomas Tuchel’s side head into the tournament as second favourites behind Spain.
England supporters have been left stunned after it emerged that Fifa has allocated fewer tickets for the Three Lions’ World Cup opener than for Curacao, the smallest nation ever to qualify for the tournament and one with a population smaller than Milton Keynes
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The revelation has prompted anger among supporters, many of whom feel England’s global following has been overlooked.
England and Arsenal fan Neil Robinson, a 48-year-old facilities manager from Watford, told The Sun: “This takes the biscuit. You couldn’t make it up.
“We’ll take the most fans to the US of any competing team, but a tiddly island has got more tickets than us.
“It beggars belief. Fifa should have given us a bigger number of tickets to reflect our fan base.”
England’s record in their last five major tournaments | PA/GETTY
Similar frustration was voiced by AFC Wimbledon supporter Chris Howle, a 54-year-old computer programmer from Wandsworth.
“Fifa are taking the mickey now,” he said.
“Why couldn’t they consider the size of a country’s travelling support and give us more tickets?”
Curacao, which gained autonomy from the Netherlands in 2010 and is famed for its brightly coloured liqueur, will play its opener at Houston’s 68,311-capacity stadium.
England, meanwhile, begin their campaign at the larger AT&T Stadium in Texas, which holds 70,122 spectators.
Despite the difference in venue size, Curacao’s ticket allocation still exceeds England’s.
Fifa maintains that roughly eight per cent of a stadium’s capacity is reserved for supporters of each competing team, a formula designed to standardise allocations across the tournament.
Even so, England fans are expected to fill stadiums wherever the team plays, turning to resale platforms and hospitality packages to secure access.
Curacao has a population roughly the size of Milton Keynes
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GETTY
That demand comes at a steep cost.
Supporters are braced to pay at least double what it cost to follow England at Qatar 2022, with some tickets reportedly listed at up to £10,000.
The financial burden has only sharpened the sense of grievance around the initial allocation.
An FA insider indicated on Tuesday that the governing body is likely to approach Fifa to request additional tickets once England’s initial allocation sells out, a move that would reflect the scale of demand.
For now, however, supporters face a scramble for seats when the application window, which remains open until January 13, 2026, closes.
As well as Croatia, England will face Panama and Ghana in their group.
