FIFA Reveals Ticket Prices for 2026 World Cup
Image courtesy of The Athletic.
By Griffin Cappiello
Just weeks after announcing a controversial ticketing policy, prices for tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup have been revealed.
FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, traditionally releases a table of round-by-round ticket prices; they did so in 2014, 2018, and 2022. For 2026, however, ticket prices were a closely guarded secret. FIFA announced that the cheapest tickets would cost no less than $60 and ticket prices would be determined using a dynamic pricing system, but no specific details or prices were released beyond that.
Instead of an official announcement from FIFA, fans who won the first ticket lottery were the ones to publicly reveal the 2026 ticket prices. One fan compiled a table of ticket prices for every game at the tournament — and the prices were much higher than anticipated.
The $60 dollar tickets promised by FIFA were scarcely available; only a small number of tickets to select group stage games in the corners of the upper deck of stadiums fell into this category.
FIFA divided seating in each stadium into four categories: Category 1 makes up the entire lower bowl and most of the second deck; Category 2 is in the upper deck along the sidelines; Category 3 is in the upper deck behind the goals; and Category 4 — where the $60 tickets could be found — was a small section high up in the corner of the stadium.
Image courtesy of The Athletic.
Group stage tickets for Category 1 seats for games in the United States (excluding matches in which the US Men’s National Team [USMNT] will play) range from $410 to $620. Other price ranges include Category 2 from $310 to $465, Category 3 from $140 to $215, and Category 4 from $60 to $105.
Tickets to the US opener, the USMNT’s first game, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles range from $1,120 for tickets in Category 3 to $2,735 for Category 1 tickets. Category 4 tickets were not listed because they had all been purchased by the time some fans exited the queue and entered the ticket portal.
Tickets to the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey cost $6,730 in Category 1, $4,210 in Category 2, $2,790 in Category 3, and $1,825 in Category 4.
These prices did not stay static, as FIFA’s dynamic pricing system quickly came into action after tickets were on sale for only one day. Category 1 tickets to the second USMNT group stage game jumped from $535 to $565, while Category 3 increased from $185 to $205.
The Athletic reported that tickets to three of four quarterfinal matches, three Round of 16 matches, the first Round of 32 match, and the third USMNT group stage game all increased in price by around 5 percent.
Fans hoping to find tickets on the resale market may be out of luck; the official 2026 World Cup ticket resale platform immediately had tickets listed for tens of thousands of dollars.
In the past, FIFA has capped resale prices at face value and charged a small fee of 10 percent or less. For the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has elected not to cap resale prices and will charge both buyers and sellers a 15 percent fee.
FIFA’s resale terms outline a “Resale Fee,” which takes 15 percent of the seller’s income, as well as a “Purchase Fee,” which charges the buyer an additional 15 percent on top of the listed price.
If a ticket, for example, is listed for $100, FIFA would take $15, while the seller gets the remaining $85. The buyer would pay $115 — the listed price of $100, plus an additional $15 to FIFA.
A Category 4 ticket to the final in New Jersey that was sold for $2,030 on the primary market was listed at $25,000 on the resale platform only a day later. FIFA would bring in $7,500 in fees if the resale ticket was sold.
