Wheelchair users report inaccessible seating at BC Place World Cup
Fans say FIFA's ticketing system hid accessible seats despite empty sections during matches, costing some nearly $6,000 in hospitality upgrades.
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Wheelchair users attending World Cup matches at BC Place say they couldn't purchase accessible tickets despite seeing multiple empty accessible sections on match days.
Kyle Gieni, a lifelong soccer fan, bought tickets for three matches including Canada's historic win against Qatar. But when he tried to book accessible seating through FIFA's ticketing website, the seats showed as unavailable. He ended up spending nearly $6,000 on hospitality seating for a single match.
"I didn't find them for sale anywhere; there were no tickets for sale except for a couple third party sites," Gieni said. "Nobody was sitting in the wheelchair section of these games."
Fellow Vancouver resident Kirsten Sharp faced the same issue. She obtained an accessible ticket through a personal FIFA contact but was told the section was sold out—only to see significant availability on match day.
"I just want to get a proper answer as to why these seats weren't made available in the first place," Gieni said.
FIFA said it had sold roughly 30,000 accessibility tickets across the entire tournament and encouraged customers to check its resale platform for remaining availability. Both fans are calling on FIFA to review its ticketing process before future matches.