COLOGNE: Georgia coach Willy Sagnol insisted the rank outsiders would go into Sunday’s Euro 2024 clash with Spain in relaxed mood having already far exceeded expectations by making it to the last 16.
“We will go into this game with a lot of confidence because we have absolutely nothing to lose. For me we have already won the European Championship and I am just excited to be on the pitch,” Sagnol told reporters in Cologne, where Sunday’s game will be played.
Georgia are appearing at a major tournament for the first time and made it to the knockout phase with a remarkable 2-0 win over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in their last group match on Wednesday.
That followed a 3-1 loss to Turkiye and a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic and allowed them to progress from Group F as one of the best third-placed finishers.
However, all the evidence suggests their run will come to an end against a Spain side who have been the most impressive team so far at the tournament, winning all three group games without letting in a goal.
Georgia have played Spain four times since Frenchman Sagnol was appointed coach in early 2021, and have lost all four meetings.
They went down twice in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, and then lost twice more in qualifying for this competition.
That included a chastening 7-1 reverse at home in Tbilisi last September.
“It was a difficult moment for us but sometimes to get further in life you need moments like that, where it is very difficult, where you are not good, where you think you have done everything bad,” Sagnol reflected.
“Without difficulties you can’t have great achievements. It was part of our journey.
“If we are here today I am sure this 7-1 taught us a lot of things and we learnt a lot of things from it.”
The 47-year-old former France international added: “Spain are clearly the best team in the competition up until now so that is why it is going to be a tough match.
“We played four times against them, we lost four times, but now it is a different competition, a different atmosphere, a different environment, so many things can happen.”
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‘We have already won the Euros’, says Georgia coach Sagnol
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‘We have already won the Euros’, says Georgia coach Sagnol
FIFA announces $60 World Cup tickets after pricing backlash
PARIS: World Cup organizers unveiled a new cut-price ticket category on Tuesday after a backlash by fans over pricing for the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Football’s global governing body FIFA said in a statement that it had created a limited number of “Supporter Entry Tier” fixed at $60 for all 104 matches, including the final.
It said the plan was “designed to further support traveling fans following their national teams across the tournament.”
FIFA said that the $60 tickets would be reserved for fans of qualified teams and would make up 10 percent of each national federation’s allotment.
Fan group Football Supporters Europe , which last week called prices “extortionate” and “astronomical,” responded by saying the FIFA was offering too little.
“While we welcome FIFA’s seeming recognition of the damage its original plans were to cause, the revisions do not go far enough,” FSE said in a statement on Tuesday.
Last week, FSE said ticket prices were almost five times higher than in 2022 in Qatar, describing FIFA’s pricing for 2026 as a “monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup.”
“If a supporter were to follow their team from the first match to the final it would cost them a minimum of $6,900,” it said at the time, adding that World Cup organizers had promised tickets priced from $21 in a bid document released in 2018.
‘Appeasement tactic’
On Tuesday, FSE said FIFA’s partial ticketing U-turn exposed flaws in how prices for next year’s tournament had been set.
“For the moment we are looking at the FIFA announcement as nothing more than an appeasement tactic due to the global negative backlash,” FSE said.
“This shows that FIFA’s ticketing policy is not set in stone, was decided in a rush, and without proper consultation — including with FIFA’s own member associations.
“Based on the allocations publicly available, this would mean that at best a few hundred fans per match and team would be lucky enough to take advantage of the 60 US dollar prices, while the vast majority would still have to pay extortionate prices, way higher than at any tournament before.”
The organization also criticized the failure to make provisions for supporters with disabilities or their companions.
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer echoed FSE, stating that FIFA’s cheaper ticket category did not go far enough.
“I welcome FIFA’s announcement of some lower priced supporters tickets,” Starmer wrote on X.
“But as someone who used to save up for England tickets, I encourage FIFA to do more to make tickets more affordable so that the World Cup doesn’t lose touch with the genuine supporters who make the game so special.”
Announcing the $60 tickets on Tuesday, FIFA said that national federations “are requested to ensure that these tickets are specifically allocated to loyal fans who are closely connected to their national teams.”
FIFA also said that if fans bought tickets for games in the knockout rounds only to find their team eliminated at an earlier stage, they “will have the administrative fee waived when refunds are processed.”
It added that it was making the announcement “amid extraordinary global demand for tickets” with 20 million requests already submitted.
The draw for tickets of all prices in the first round of sales will take place on Tuesday, January 13.
