With the 2026 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) North and Central America World Cup about to kick off, as many as 180,000 tickets have flooded the official resale market. FIFA sought record revenue by setting ticket prices at all-time highs, but critics say fans are turning away, raising concerns about empty seats.
The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 9th (local time) that about 176,000 tickets for World Cup group-stage matches were listed on FIFA's official resale platform. A significant number of tickets remain unsold even as the World Cup nears.
Resale prices are also trending lower. According to the FT, the median price of tickets on the official resale platform has fallen about 20% over the past month. Given that FIFA charges a 26% fee on the transaction amount, many resellers are believed to be offloading tickets below cost.
In particular, demand has been notably weak for some national team matches. About 16,000 tickets remain for Iran's matches, with the cheapest general-admission seats at about $138. The United States, a co-host, is no exception. For the U.S.-Paraguay group-stage opener, 4,400 tickets were still available on the resale market. However, U.S. match prices are also relatively steep. The median price of tickets transacting on the resale market is above $800, and the lowest price for the same match sold directly by FIFA reaches $1,120. In addition to resale inventory, FIFA is said to still be officially selling about 15,000 group-stage tickets.
If empty seats materialize, FIFA could take a significant hit. Under the banner of tailoring to market conditions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, FIFA adopted a far higher pricing strategy than prior World Cups. It also applied dynamic pricing, in which prices fluctuate in real time with demand. Ticket prices surged for matches or host cities where demand was concentrated.
Even so, the policy has prompted pushback from fan groups and politicians. Fan groups say the expense of following a single national team at this World Cup has increased about fivefold compared with the 2022 Qatar World Cup. For the final in New Jersey, entry prices reportedly start at a minimum of $4,185, with general seats at $5,575 and premium seats at $8,680. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey said the prices are "virtually impossible to afford" and have opened an investigation into the ticket-selling methods.
Nevertheless, FIFA expects to generate more than $3 billion (about 4.5 trillion won) in revenue this year from World Cup ticket and VIP package sales. That is more than three times the revenue from the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Addressing the uproar over high prices, FIFA said it is offering tickets at a range of prices so that both existing and new fans can watch fairly, and noted that it recently added some lower-priced tickets.