Eye-watering prices reflect demand to watch the World Cup in the US, Infantino says, amid increasing criticism from fans.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended World Cup ticket prices, insisting that football’s global governing body was obliged to take advantage of laws in the United States that allow tickets to be resold for thousands of dollars above face value.

Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Infantino said the eye-watering prices reflected demand to watch the World Cup.

FIFA has faced searing criticism over the cost of World Cup tickets, with fan organisation Football Supporters Europe (FSE) branding the pricing structure “extortionate” and a “monumental betrayal”.

FSE filed a lawsuit with the European Commission in March targeting FIFA over “excessive ticket prices” for the tournament.

FIFA’s own World Cup resale website, FIFA Marketplace, last week advertised four tickets to the July 19 final in New York at a cost of more than $2m each.

“If some people put on the resale market, some tickets for the final at $2m, number one, it doesn’t mean that the tickets cost $2m,” Infantino said.

“And number two, it doesn’t mean that somebody will buy these tickets,” Infantino said. “And if somebody buys a ticket for the final for $2m, I will personally bring him a hot dog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience.”

Fan groups have contrasted the difference in price of tickets for this summer with the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

The most expensive ticket for the final in 2022 was about $1,600 at face value, while in 2026, the most expensive ticket for the final is about $11,000 at its original price.

Infantino was adamant that the steep increase in face-value prices was justified.

“We have to look at the market – we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates,” Infantino said.

“In the US, it is permitted to resell tickets as well. So if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price.

“And as a matter of fact, even though some people are saying that the ticket prices we have are high, they still end up on the resale market at an even higher price, more than double our price.”

Infantino said that FIFA received in excess of 500 million ticket requests for 2026, compared with fewer than 50 million combined for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

The FIFA leader added that 25 percent of tickets for the group phase were priced at under $300.

“You cannot go to watch in the US a college game, not even speaking about a top professional game of a certain level, for less than $300,” Infantino said. “And this is the World Cup.”

However, FIFA has struggled to sell out games, including host nation USA’s opener against Paraguay.

Seats remain available for most group-stage games, albeit at exorbitant prices.

Tickets for USA vs Paraguay start at $1,120 and go as high as $4,105, with many tickets priced at about $2,000 for the June 12 match in Los Angeles. Seats in the hospitality package groupings go as high as $6,050 per seat.

Tickets are still available on FIFA’s official website through its “last-minute sales” section.

The Oklahoma City Thunder overpowered the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers 108-90 to grab a 1-0 lead in their NBA Western Conference semifinal series.

A balanced offensive performance and steely defensive display from the reigning NBA champions were enough to seal victory over the depleted Lakers, who started brightly but trailed for the final three quarters, on Tuesday.

Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 24 points and 12 rebounds while reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell added 18 points apiece.

“We were a little choppy, a little rusty, but offensively we just stuck with it,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, saluting a Thunder defence that restricted the Lakers to their lowest score in a playoff game since 2021.

“We just try to make people play outside their comfort zone, as simple as that,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the Thunder defence. “Whatever guys like to do, we like to take away from them.”

The commanding Thunder victory underscored the size of the task facing the fourth-seeded Lakers if they are to defy the odds and upset the champions in the best-of-seven series.

Oklahoma City completed a 4-0 regular-season sweep over the Lakers, winning each game by an average margin of 29.3 points.

Tuesday’s series-opener at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center echoed the Thunder’s regular-season dominance, with the champions pulling away down the stretch to score an emphatic win.

James, who had defied his 41 years to lead the Lakers to a surprise 4-2 upset of the Houston Rockets in the first round, led Los Angeles with 27 points and shot 12-for-17 in a losing effort.

Rui Hachimura added 18 points, with Marcus Smart bagging 12 and Deandre Ayton 10.

Lakers head coach JJ Redick blamed unforced errors for his team’s problems.

“The mistakes hurt us,” Redick said. “You’re playing the world champs, your margin for error in terms of mistakes is not that high … just too many tonight. We’ve got to clean that up.

“The guys played hard. We just got to do a better job with execution. It comes down to attention to detail.

“I know we’ll clean things up and be better.”

Pistons hold off Cavs

In Tuesday’s other playoff game, Cade Cunningham scored 23 points as the Detroit Pistons held off a second-half rally to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-101 in their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series opener.

The top-seeded Pistons looked to be cruising to a comfortable win after dominating in the first half and taking a 17-point lead in the third period.

But a spirited Cleveland rally saw the Cavaliers close to within four points before Detroit finally pulled clear again in the fourth quarter.

Cunningham was one of six Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Tobias Harris adding 20 points while Duncan Robinson bagged five three-pointers on his way to a 19-point haul at the Pistons’ Little Caesars Arena.

Daniss Jenkins added 12 points from the bench, with Ausar Thompson and Jalen Duren scoring 11 points apiece.

Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 23 points, including four three-pointers, while James Harden scored 22 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.

“It was a great team win – defending the ball, rebounding the ball,” Cunningham told NBC television.

“We’ve got a great system in place. You’ve got somebody that will come in behind you whenever you get tired.

“But it’s one win, we’ve got to come back and do it again.”

Detroit had battled into the conference semifinals after coming back from 3-1 down to defeat Orlando 4-3 in the first round.

Cunningham said the Pistons are anxious to avoid a repeat.

“At home, you’ve got to protect home court. We didn’t do that in the last series, so we want [to] do that this series,” Cunningham said.

“They want to come in and steal one, so we’ve got to do this again the day after tomorrow.”

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett says some individuals will be arrested and charged.

Australian police say that some members of a group of Australian women and children due to arrive in the country from Syria imminently will be arrested over alleged links to the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

The 13 Australians — four women and nine children — are expected to return from Syria on Thursday evening local time, arriving at airports in Melbourne and Sydney.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters on Wednesday that some members of the group would be taken into custody upon arrival, while others remain under active investigation. She added that the children would receive psychological support and participate in programmes focused on countering violent extremism and community integration.

The women and children had been living in the Roj camp in northeastern Syria.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke condemned the women for travelling to Syria and warned that anyone found to have committed offences would face prosecution.

“They made an appalling, disgraceful decision,” Burke said. “If any of these individuals find their way back to Australia, if they have committed crimes, they can expect to face the full force of the law, without exception.”

Burke said the Australian government had not assisted the group’s return, but acknowledged there were “very serious” legal limits on preventing Australian citizens from returning to the country.

Australian authorities have been investigating citizens who travelled to Syria to join ISIL since 2015, when the group was at its height and controlled large parts of the country and neighbouring Iraq.

Hundreds of Western women are believed to have travelled to Iraq and Syria during the peak of the group’s power. Among the most prominent cases was that of British national Shamima Begum, who was stripped of her UK citizenship in 2019 on national security grounds.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, Ben Saul, urged Australia to prioritise the welfare and protection of the returning women and children, while ensuring that any law enforcement action taken against individuals is “proportionate” and “justified”.