Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, has raised serious concerns about the absence of fan segregation at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, warning that the situation represents a genuine risk to supporter safety and reveals that FIFA has lost control of its own ticketing operation.

Speaking to BBC Sport in Dallas, Evain said the mingling of rival supporters at group-stage matches is unlike anything normally seen at a major international tournament. "The absence of segregation is not normal for a tournament like this," he said.

A ticketing system out of control

Evain pointed to the free movement of tickets on resale platforms as the root cause. "Fifa has zero control with what's happening with these tickets," he said. "It's hard to tell what will be the behaviour of the people that control these tickets."

The concern is straightforward: when tickets change hands freely on secondary markets, FIFA cannot verify which supporters are sitting in which sections. The risk of fans from opposing sides ending up in the same block is, in Evain's words, "stronger than ever before."

BBC Sport witnessed Dutch and Japanese supporters sitting together at AT&T; Stadium in Dallas on Sunday, when Netherlands faced Japan. Evain acknowledged that some low-level solutions exist — such as fans swapping seats — but stressed that FIFA's ability to intervene is severely limited at this stage.

FIFA sources told BBC Sport that ring-fenced allocations do exist for supporters of Participating Member Associations, who receive 8 percent of tickets per match — a figure consistent with previous tournaments.

Flag confiscations add to frustration

Beyond ticketing, Evain raised a separate but related concern: the inconsistent application of rules around flags and banners at stadiums. He said some supporters were prevented from bringing flags into the Dallas venue on Sunday — a policy that sits uneasily with what was permitted at previous FIFA tournaments.

"Most of the flags were removed by the staff," he said. "There's no consistent rule, and when you look at what Fifa has published, there's a code of conduct that is very broad — but it never clarified a lot of things."

FIFA's official tournament guidance states that small flags and banners made from fire-resistant material are permitted inside stadiums, while larger items require advance approval. On Monday, FIFA won a court ruling in Los Angeles banning Iran supporters from bringing pre-revolutionary flags to their matches, classifying them as political symbols. But Evain argued that non-political flags are also being confiscated, suggesting staff are applying NFL-style venue rules rather than FIFA's own code of conduct.

"You should know the rules before leaving home, and that's not the case," he said. "What we are probably looking at is a tournament where the rules are going to be extremely different from one venue to another — which is not how it should be."

The Dallas venue is scheduled to host England's opening group game against Croatia on Wednesday. FIFA has been approached for comment.