Football Supporters Europe chief Ronan Evain has warned that the absence of fan segregation at the World Cup represents a serious and growing risk.
Evain, the executive director of Football Supporters Europe, told BBC Sport that the situation shows Fifa has “lost control of their ticketing” ahead of the tournament’s latter stages.
Most group games so far have featured fans of both competing nations mingling freely inside venues, representing a significant departure from standard football practice at major tournaments.
Evain was speaking in Dallas, where BBC Sport witnessed pockets of Dutch and Japanese supporters mixed together during Sunday’s match between the two nations.
“The absence of segregation is not normal for a tournament like this,” Evain said, outlining concerns that are being shared widely across the supporter community.
He pointed directly to Fifa’s ticket resale practices as the source of the problem, warning the governing body has created a situation it can no longer monitor or manage effectively.
“What is worrying is that Fifa doesn’t really know who has tickets here and there… by pushing so much for people to buy tickets and re-sell them,” he said.
“The possibility – or the risk – to have fans from ‘Team A’ in the middle of the crowd of ‘Team B’ is stronger than ever before,” Evain added, highlighting the practical dangers this creates inside stadiums.
He acknowledged that minor fixes may be possible in some cases, but warned that Fifa’s options are severely limited given how widely tickets have circulated through unofficial channels.
“Hopefully this kind of situation can be solved by just switching tickets and people moving from one section to another. But there is very little that Fifa can do at this stage because they don’t know who owns their tickets,” he said.
Evain was equally critical of Fifa’s handling of flag policies inside venues, describing widespread confusion among both fans and stadium staff about what supporters are permitted to bring in.
Fans were reportedly prevented from displaying flags at Sunday’s match in Dallas, a venue that will host England’s opening group game against Croatia on Wednesday.
“You were not really allowed to bring a flag in, or at least to show it, which is inconsistent with most Fifa rules and regulations, but also what was allowed at previous tournaments,” Evain said.
He suggested that stadium staff appeared to be applying NFL event rules rather than Fifa’s own published tournament code of conduct, resulting in arbitrary and inconsistent enforcement across different venues.
“Most of the flags were removed by the staff. The broader problem – and I think it’s a demonstration of how much Fifa has little control over this tournament – is that there’s no consistent rule,” he said.
Fifa’s own tournament guidance states that “small flags, banners and posters made of a fire-resistant material are allowed in the stadium,” with larger items requiring advance approval.
On Monday, Fifa won a court hearing in Los Angeles banning Iran supporters from bringing pre-revolutionary flags into matches, with the governing body classifying it as a political symbol.
However, Evain noted that non-political flags have also been confiscated, further illustrating the inconsistency in how the rules are being applied on the ground by individual venue staff.
“It is just this lack of clarity that is hard. You should know the rules before leaving home, and that’s not the case,” he said.
Evain concluded by warning that the tournament risks applying fundamentally different standards at different venues, which he described as an unacceptable failure of basic governance by the world governing body.
