Another FIFA World Cup ticket sale? Here’s when you can buy — or look elsewhere
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A limited “Last-Minute Sales” round begins May 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT.
- There are about 7 million total tickets for the 104 games across 16 sites.
- FIFA’s resale platform lets sellers set asking prices and takes a 15% fee.
About five weeks before the first match, FIFA announced Wednesday that another round of ticket sales will be held for the 2026 World Cup.
A limited release of tickets begins Thursday, May 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. FIFA is promoting this opportunity for “Last-Minute Sales” on its website.
That’s the same title FIFA used when tickets last went on sale, on April 1. The international organization for soccer has opened multiple such windows for ticket sales since last fall.
FIFA has faced criticism for its ticket prices and sales process over the past few months.
For the entire tournament, there are about 7 million total tickets available for the 104 games over 16 sites, including Kansas City. FIFA announced in January that it had received some 500 million ticket requests.
A big demand, right? It would seem so, based on FIFA’s official ticket-resale website. Recently, four seats for the final at MetLife Stadium near New York City were advertised for $2.3 million each, according to Sky News.
Fan groups have contrasted 2026 ticket prices to those in 2022, when the World Cup was played in Qatar. The most expensive ticket for the final between Argentina and France was around $1,600. At its original price, the most expensive ticket for this year’s final is about $11,000.
FIFA doesn’t control the asking price on its ticket-resale site, allowing ticket-holders to ask what they want. But FIFA takes 15% of the buying and selling price.
Earlier this week, FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the resale market.
“We are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates,” Infantino said. “In the U.S., it is permitted to resell tickets, as well. So if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price.
“And as a matter of fact, even though some people are saying that the ticket prices we have are high, they still end up on the resale market at an even higher price, more than double our price.”
Some ticket prices on non-FIFA secondary markets don’t seem to be quite so alarming, at least for games in Kansas City. Overland Park-based Ticketsforless.com had tickets to the Netherlands-Tunisia game (June 25) for around $200. Those seats were in Arrowhead’s upper deck.
Tickets in the same price range and location (upper deck at Arrowhead) were available for Austria-Algeria on June 27.
The most expensive low-end ticket for a game in Kansas City is the July 11 quarterfinal. Those start at around $1,750.