FIFA boss defends World Cup tickets prices and brushes off visa row

As the biggest World Cup in history gets underway, the head of the global football governing body, FIFA, has defended exorbitant tickets prices and visa rows.

He also praised United States President Donald Trump saying the tournament in the US would have been "impossible to organise" without him.

Trump’s immigration crackdown has seen Somali World Cup referee, Omar Artan, refused entry into the US and subsequently cut from FIFA’s list.

Iranian team officials and numerous fans have also been prevented from entering the country.

"Of course it is unfortunate as well what happened to Omar, the referee from Somalia. But again, we don't control everything,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Artan was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA’s final list for the tournament.

He was denied entry to the US on Saturday entry because of his links to what it described as “suspected members of terror organisations”.

Speaking in Mexico on the eve of the opening match, Infantino said FIFA cannot dictate to governments who to let into their countries, though it is working “behind the scenes.”

“We are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces” he said, “We are a sports organisation, we try to do our best with the means that we have".

"We don't control everything ... Sometimes it's good to chill, relax, we work on everything, we try to solve everything," he said.

Infantino also insisted that tickets – which in some cases have topped $30,000 – had been priced appropriately. He cited a small number of $60 tickets that were made available in response to criticism.

The US is co-hosting the tournament together with Mexico and Canada.