FA hospitality and free-ticket costs at Wembley rise 25% to £564,400
The Football Association increased spending on Wembley hospitality and free tickets for FA Council members by 25% in the 2025-26 season, with expenditure rising to £564,400, the organisation's latest accounts showed on 15 October 2026.
The accounts record that spending on tickets and hospitality rose from £452,300 in 2024-25 to £564,400 in 2025-26. The report notes this rise amid nationwide fan protests and walkouts over ticket price increases and a cost-of-living crisis that has made football less affordable. Liverpool scrapped plans to increase ticket prices over three successive seasons following widespread unrest from supporters at the end of last season. There are more than 120 FA Council members, including English Football League chairman Rick Parry, Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Maheta Molango and senior Premier League executives.
FA Council members can attend England and FA matches at Wembley — including the FA Cup semi-finals and final — and bring one guest free of charge. They receive complimentary meals and drinks and are allocated premium seats at those fixtures. The accounts link these benefits to the wider category of ticket and hospitality expenditure recorded for the season.
An FA spokesperson commented on the arrangements and the recent spending rise, saying: "FA Council members are invited as our guests to the England matches and FA competitions that we host." The spokesperson added: "They are just one of the groups invited to these fixtures, alongside others such as the competing clubs and any visiting national associations." They also said: "The hospitality offering at these matches was updated over the past year to better reflect the hospitality offered by clubs and other football stakeholders, which has resulted in an increase in expenditure in this area."
The accounts flag the Fellowship of Council, an honorary membership scheme introduced in 2017, as a driver of future costs. It allows members who have served on the FA Council for at least nine years to continue receiving free tickets, food and drinks even after stepping down. "As the number of members of the Fellowship increases annually, the costs associated with match tickets and hospitality are likely to increase," the FA company secretary, Richard McDermott, writes in the accounts.
The cost of hosting FA Council meetings almost doubled, rising from £18,600 to £33,200, with much of the increase attributed to higher hospitality expenditure. Those meeting costs are recorded alongside the ticket and hospitality figures in the same set of accounts.
Richard McDermott added a proposed response in the accounts, writing: "We propose to introduce changes to the benefits that go with membership of the Fellowship so that from 2027 these costs will start to reduce." The planned adjustments from 2027 are presented in the accounts as the FA's intended measure to curb the rising expense of tickets and hospitality.