Fifa plays down reports that ticketless fans breached security at England World Cup game

Source: The Guardian

Fifa has played down reports that ticketless England supporters were able to gain entry for the World Cup opener against Croatia after evading security checks at the Dallas Stadium.

An unspecified number of fans without tickets are said to have made their way into the ground despite a huge security operation being put in place at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington. Officials said that snipers were in place inside the stadium, with the Arlington police department deploying “highly trained personnel and specialised resources” at the venue.

But despite those measures and some fans having paid thousands of pounds for tickets, there were widespread reports of supporters without tickets gaining access.

“It was ridiculous,” one fan told the Daily Mail. “There were big gaps at the side of the ticket barriers and people just strolled through. There were volunteers who were basically old ladies and they weren’t stopping anyone. I scanned my ticket because I had one, but nobody checked my flag or my trophy. Loads just walked through while others just jumped over the top. There were huge gaps.”


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/jun/18/fifa-england-ticketless-fans-security-world-cup

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The truth of the matter is that American arena entries - relative to security in place in other countries - is slightly more elevated than an honor system - very slightly. So I'm not surprised to hear this.

That this is a huge security concern should be clear enough, but it's nearly certain that lazy-ass FIFA just told the local vendor stadiums to take down sponsor names but use their usual entry protocols.

It's funny and all when it's the England supporters acting a damn fool, but remember that if they can sneak in with pints and Millwall bricks, then anyone can sneak in with anything.