The sport built by the working class has become a luxury product through the slow, compounding arithmetic of central bank inflation.

Last month, at a press conference ahead of an FA Cup semi-final, Pep Guardiola was asked about ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup. 

 was neither tactical nor diplomatic. “A long, long time ago, the World Cup was a celebration of the joy of football,” he said. “Everyone travelled across the world to watch their country. And it was affordable. Now it has become so expensive. Football is for the fans. This business doesn’t work without them.” 

FIFA president Gianni Infantino had a different answer. When confronted with reports that World Cup final tickets 

, he laughed it off and promised to personally deliver a hot dog to anyone who paid that price. His substantive defence: “We are in the market in which 

Both men are right, in their own way. Guardiola correctly identifies that something has been lost. Infantino correctly identifies the mechanism: market rates now govern a popular celebration. What neither man explains is why those market rates have drifted so far beyond what ordinary wage-earners can afford. 

For that, you need to understand what happened to money in 1971.

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Equity Punks and Bagholders: Real Madrid IPO (FT, Andrew Hill)

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> # The Working Class Built Football. Fiat Money Priced Them Out
>
> **The sport built by the working class has become a luxury product through the slow, compounding arithmetic of central bank inflation.**
>
> Last month, at a press conference ahead of an FA Cup semi-final, Pep Guardiola was asked about ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup. [His answer](https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2026/04/288588/pep-guardiola-hits-out-at-world-cup-2026-prices-football-is-for-the-fans/) was neither tactical nor diplomatic. “A long, long time ago, the World Cup was a celebration of the joy of football,” he said. “Everyone travelled across the world to watch their country. And it was affordable. Now it has become so expensive. Football is for the fans. This business doesn’t work without them.” 
>
> FIFA president Gianni Infantino had a different answer. When confronted with reports that World Cup final tickets [listed on FIFA’s own official resale platform at nearly $2.3 million each](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/5/6/fifa-chief-infantino-defends-world-cup-ticket-prices), he laughed it off and promised to personally deliver a hot dog to anyone who paid that price. His substantive defence: “We are in the market in which [entertainment is the most developed in the world](https://www.si.com/soccer/fifa-president-ridicules-2026-world-cup-ticket-price-backlash-hot-dog-promise). So we have to apply market rates.” 
>
> Both men are right, in their own way. Guardiola correctly identifies that something has been lost. Infantino correctly identifies the mechanism: market rates now govern a popular celebration. What neither man explains is why those market rates have drifted so far beyond what ordinary wage-earners can afford. 
>
> For that, you need to understand what happened to money in 1971.
>
> [**...read more at thedailyeconomy.org**](https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-working-class-built-football-fiat-money-priced-them-out/)

The Working Class Built Football. Fiat Money Priced Them OutThe Working Class Built Football. Fiat Money Priced Them Out