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Supporters of the Scottish national football team, known as the Tartan Army, have launched a fan-operated ticket exchange website designed to address the rising costs of World Cup tickets. This initiative, spearheaded by Edinburgh fan Carey McEvoy, aims to offer Scotland fans a platform to trade and sell their match tickets without the steep resale mark-ups often seen on commercial sites. McEvoy, who previously managed a similar system during Euro 2024, describes the current situation as much more challenging due to the high expenses associated with the US-hosted tournament.
Tickets for Scotland’s opening game against Haiti in Boston have seen a wide price range, with the least expensive recently available tickets costing $380, while some have been listed for over $2,000. The variety in ticket pricing has been influenced by FIFA’s dynamic pricing strategy, where costs fluctuate in real-time based on demand. McEvoy, who is attending the World Cup with his 17-year-old son, explained that the ticket exchange was founded to assist fans who had already booked travel plans but were struggling to secure access to matches. A £5 registration fee is charged to participants on the platform, with all proceeds donated to the Tartan Army Sunshine charity.
The ticket exchange is managed by McEvoy along with fellow enthusiasts Gill Taggart and Gordon Forbes, who oversee transactions to help prevent scams. Despite difficulties in acquiring enough tickets to satisfy all fans, McEvoy emphasizes that the project has been positively received within the Tartan Army community. Reflecting on previous experiences, he said, “We ran something similar during the Euros which was brilliant, but it was very different then. There were a lot of people across Europe with tickets to swap. It was much more straightforward.” He added, “Scotland fans will always find tickets one way or another, we are just happy to chip in.”
As thousands of Scottish supporters prepare to travel to the United States to cheer on Steve Clarke’s squad—their first World Cup appearance in three decades—veteran Tartan Army member Hamish Husband expressed strong support for the fan-led exchange. He highlighted the burden that dynamic pricing places on families attempting to attend matches, commenting, “The cost for a family to go must be extraordinary.” Husband praised the fans for reclaiming some control over ticket access against what he called a “money-raking” system operated by FIFA and their hosts in the US. Criticizing FIFA’s approach, he pointed out that tickets on official FIFA resale sites could cost about $1,000 due to fees of up to 15%, whereas the fan-run exchange facilitates ticket transactions at face value. In response, FIFA maintained that its pricing policy reflects market demand and insisted it operates as a not-for-profit organization, with revenues reinvested into the development of football worldwide
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