Fans trying to buy World Cup tickets for KC games report multiple issues
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- FIFA relabeled goal-end supporter sections as Category 1 on Arrowhead maps.
- FIFA uses dynamic pricing and a 15% resale fee, per fans' complaints.
- Long queues and limited inventory frustrated local fans and raised costs.
This was supposed to be a quintessential story of what Kansas City can expect this summer during the 2026 World Cup.
A soccer fan in Germany named Frederik was excited when he purchased tickets to a Round-of-32 match at Arrowhead Stadium. While the opponents are unknown, Frederik snapped up tickets for the game and is excited to visit Kansas City.
But the tale took an unfortunate turn.
Frederik splurged and bought Category 1 tickets, which didn’t have an assigned seat at the time of purchase, but they went all around the lower bowl of Arrowhead Stadium.
To his dismay, Frederik learned this week that FIFA had changed the seating map at Arrowhead. Sections behind the goal that had been labeled as Category 1 were now a supporters tier, and that’s where he would be sitting.
That meant he’d actually be doing very little sitting, since those fans stand, play music and sing songs throughout the entire game. It’s not an ideal spot for a neutral party.
“This is actually the first time I’m really angry about it, because I genuinely feel scammed,” Frederik told The Star, asking that his last name remain anonymous. “Before that, I was already unhappy with the ticket prices, but I kind of accepted it and told myself that’s just how it is. I still went ahead and paid those prices.
“But as a student who doesn’t have much money, spending around $520 on a ticket was a big decision for me. And then seeing that I’m not even getting what I paid for just doesn’t feel right.”
Of all the things that could possibly sap fan enthusiasm for the World Cup in Kansas City, who could have imagined it would be the match tickets themselves?
But Frederik’s story is one that, unfortunately, has been shared by others planning to attend games around the country this summer.
Frederik realizes he has no recourse with FIFA.
“I’ve listed my ticket on the FIFA resale platform,” he said. “If it gets sold, I’ll try to use that money to buy another ticket and hopefully get a better seat. However, with the 15% resale fee, I’ll most likely still end up paying extra overall.”
Ah, but that FIFA resale platform has been another headache for fans going to games in Kansas City.
‘Inventory doesn’t exist’
FIFA warns soccer fans that they should use its resale platform rather than StubHub, Ticketmaster, Seat Geek or another third-party website.
But if you visit FIFA’s resale platform, you’ll find that only a smattering of tickets remain available for purchase. And there is a promise of $60 tickets at some matches in Kansas City, but finding them can be a futile experience.
“It’s impossible to navigate and find tickets,” a fan in Lawrence told The Star. “Their own inventory doesn’t exist for certain markets, like it doesn’t for Kansas City matches.
“Different people also are seeing different things on the site.”
That’s because FIFA is utilizing a dynamic pricing system. And FIFA assesses a 15% fee for tickets being sold and purchased on their site.
“For the FIFA World Cup 2026, FIFA has established a ticket sales and secondary market model that reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events across the host countries,” FIFA told The Star. “FIFA’s Resale Marketplace provides a safe, transparent, and secure environment for fans to sell or transfer tickets to other fans. The applicable resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards across North American sports and entertainment sectors.
“FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors, where price adaptations are made to optimize sales and attendance and ensure a fair market value for events.”
There is another option for finding tickets: FIFA’s last-minute sales phase. This, however, has also been a headache.
A four-hour wait
Dennie Prins of Kansas City was pumped when he learned the Netherlands would not only have a base camp here, but would play Tunisia in a World Cup game at Arrowhead Stadium.
Prins, who moved to the United States from the Netherlands nearly two decades ago, initially tried to get tickets through the first FIFA sales. No luck. He then attempted to go through the Holland football federation but struck out again.
“In February, I could get tickets for the game, but they were really allocated for the Tunisian side. So I didn’t want to sit on Tunisian side,” Prins said. “Not that it’s dangerous, but I feel bad if you’re rooting for the other team while you’re sitting on the other side. I mean, we’re in Kansas City, so the entire stadium is red. But in soccer, it’s more different to sit in another team’s side. So I kind of held off on that.”
Then FIFA’s last-minute sale opened at 10 a.m. on April 1 and Prins didn’t waste any time. Well, until he tried getting tickets.
Prins went to the website at 9:45 a.m. and waited. And waited. And waited.
“I was in an online queue and they had a little circle going with a progress bar,” Prins said. “And then around 1 o’clock, they started showing me, you got 30 seconds, you could pick your tickets. I’d been in queue for four hours watching my phone.
“I finally got four tickets for my family, and I got two extra tickets for some other people. And that was a process.”
Prins bought four tickets at $500 apiece. That’s a tidy sum, another issue with FIFA, which in some instances has quadrupled prices from four years ago in Qatar.
But Prins bit the bullet, likening the cost to a Chiefs playoff ticket. Still, for a fan in Kansas City who wanted to attend a World Cup match, it was steep price to pay ... and it took months to actually get a ticket.
It was another example of the headaches fans have faced when trying to get ahold of tickets, whether in trying to buy those tickets or simply seeing the prices.
“If I could say one thing to FIFA about this whole experience, it’s that they are risking losing their core fans with decisions like this,” said Frederik, the fan in Germany fan who is coming to Kansas City.
“Right now it feels like everything is about maximizing profit, but if regular fans feel misled or priced out, they’ll eventually walk away. And those are exactly the people who create the atmosphere that makes the World Cup special.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 12:16 PM.
