Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has come under fire for unexpectedly putting tickets on sale.
The sports outlet "The Athletic" reported on the 25th (Korea time) that with just over 100 days until the start of the 2026 FIFA North and Central American World Cup, FIFA's bungled ticket administration has drawn fierce criticism from football fans around the world.
The outlet emphasized that, unlike when Gianni Infantino cried "sold out for every match," additional sales suddenly began. Moreover, it said a commotion occurred in which the contents of the guidance email were even omitted in the process.
According to the article, FIFA sent some fans an email titled "exclusive additional purchase opportunity." But FIFA allegedly caused major confusion by sending it with the crucial available purchase time left blank.
The incident occurred Tuesday morning (local time). The email sent to fans who had lost the lottery contained the phrase "an exclusive ticket purchase window just for you will open this week."
However, the outlet reported, the email only stated "your 48-hour purchase window begins at ○ o'clock," without specifying any time.
Worse, the purchase L.I.N.C attached to the email was closed with a notice saying "will reopen on April 2," prompting fans to express outrage on social media such as Reddit and TikTok, asking "is this a scam email?"
The bigger problem is FIFA's attitude. Just a week earlier, Infantino announced that "all matches are sold out," emphasizing the scarcity of tickets. But through this email FIFA changed its tune, saying "a small number of single-match tickets were secured after the lottery ended."
According to a corrected email sent only later in the afternoon, the purchase window opens at 11 a.m. on the 25th Eastern Time. The matches available were reported to be limited to games in some U.S. host cities such as Dallas, Philadelphia and Kansas City.
Industry insiders have raised suspicions that FIFA's surprise sale was a "trick" to deal with leftover inventory for less in-demand category 1 and 2 (expensive seats) or for relatively unpopular matchups like "Côte d'Ivoire vs. Curaçao."
Meanwhile, FIFA has remained tight-lipped about specific numbers sold, seat categories and prices. As a result, the tournament has been marred by ticketing chaos even before the World Cup begins.
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