World Cup fan segregation lapse 'a risk', fans' chief
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- Football Supporters Europe executive director Ronan Evain told BBC Sport in Dallas that the absence of segregation at World Cup group games is 'a risk' and shows Fifa has 'lost control of their ticketing,' with opposing supporters mingling — unlike traditional football tournaments.
- Evain said Fifa 'doesn't really know who has tickets' because of heavy promotion of resale platforms, creating a heightened risk that fans from one nation end up seated among supporters of their opponents.
- BBC Sport witnessed pockets of Dutch and Japanese fans mixed together at Sunday's match in Dallas — the same stadium scheduled to host England vs Croatia on Wednesday.
- Fifa sources said 8% of tickets per match are ring-fenced for Participating Member Associations, a share in line with previous World Cups, though Evain argued that allocation is insufficient to guarantee proper supporter segregation.
- Evain said flag rules at Dallas Stadium resemble 'what is in place for NFL games' rather than Fifa's own code of conduct, with non-political flags confiscated and no consistent national policy across venues.
- A Los Angeles court ruled Monday that Iran supporters are banned from bringing pre-revolutionary flags to their matches, classifying them as political symbols — a separate but related flashpoint in Fifa's flag-enforcement inconsistency.
Why it matters: Evain's concerns center on whether Fifa can guarantee fan safety at the expanded World Cup, where ticketing traceability and venue enforcement are visibly inconsistent. With flags being confiscated unevenly and ticket resales going uncontrolled across venues, the lack of a single enforceable rulebook creates a safety gap that previous host countries managed through stricter segregation and clearer national policies.
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