Longtime soccer broadcaster Ian Darke defended Timothy Weah’s criticism of 2026 World Cup ticket prices, questioning why USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino would tell his player not to speak out about a widely-held concern.
“Timothy Weah is right,” Darke wrote on X. “World Cup tickets are too costly by far for ordinary fans. Why does his USA boss Mauricio Pochettino think he should not express a universally-held opinion? What boat is Weah rocking by empathising with fans?”
Timothy Weah is right. World Cup tickets are too costly by far for ordinary fans. Why does his USA boss Mauricio Pochettino think he should not express a universally-held opinion ? What boat is Weah rocking by empathising with fans ?
— Ian Darke (@IanDarke) February 2, 2026
Weah told French outlet Le Dauphiné last month that World Cup tickets are “too expensive” and that “lots of real fans will miss matches.”
“Football should still be enjoyed by everyone,” Weah said. “It is the most popular sport. This World Cup will be good, but it will be more of a show. I am just a bit disappointed by the ticket prices.”
As noted by ESPN, FIFA is charging up to $8,680 list price per ticket for the tournament, which runs from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Mexico, and Canada. And while cheaper options surely exist, average ticket prices have drawn widespread criticism from supporter groups around the world, some of whom have filed complaints with FIFA.
Pochettino wasn’t interested in his player joining that criticism, as he dismissed Weah’s comments during a Zoom press conference last week.
“First of all, I think players need to talk on the pitch, playing football, not outside of,” Pochettino said. “It is not his duty to evaluate the price of the ticket. And then also my job is, my duty is to prepare the team, the U.S. men’s national team, in the best way to perform. We are not politicians.”
Pochettino added that FIFA’s decisions are “their responsibility to explain why” and that his team needs to “trust in the organization that is in charge of soccer or football around the world that they are going to do the right things.”
Darke isn’t buying that logic, and it’s not hard to see why. Weah is one of the few high-profile players willing to publicly criticize FIFA’s pricing structure, even though most bite their tongues because their coaches tell them to stay quiet. Pochettino’s approach is standard across international soccer. Keep your players focused on football. Let FIFA handle FIFA business. Don’t create distractions. Trust the process and trust the organization running the sport.
The problem with that approach is it’s exactly how FIFA gets away with decisions like charging $8,680 for tickets to a tournament that’s supposed to celebrate the world’s most popular sport. Staying quiet protects FIFA from accountability. Pochettino wants Weah to trust that FIFA will do the right thing. The ticket prices suggest FIFA already decided what the right thing is, and it doesn’t involve the average fan actually attending matches.
Pochettino’s job is to prepare the team, and asking players not to create distractions before a World Cup is reasonable. But Weah’s job isn’t just to play football and stay silent. He has a platform, and he used it to say what people — including Ian Darke — are already thinking. If that creates a problem for Pochettino, the blame belongs with FIFA for creating a situation that’s worth criticizing in the first place, not Weah.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.