Key facts
- FIFA is charging record prices for World Cup tickets, with list prices reaching five figures.
- As of the tournament's eve, 29 games were sold out, while 75 still had tickets available.
- The lowest-priced category three seats are available for only three matches, with most priced significantly higher.
- FIFA operates its own resale marketplace and other sites like StubHub and SeatGeek also list tickets.
- Tickets for the final match start at nearly $8,000 on resale platforms.
As the FIFA World Cup kicks off, ticket prices are at record highs across the 11 stadiums in the United States, three in Mexico, and two in Canada. FIFA has employed dynamic pricing, increasing costs since tickets first went on sale last fall. FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the pricing strategy as fitting for the North American market, despite criticism over list prices reaching five figures.
On the eve of the tournament, 29 games were sold out, with wheelchair seats available for some. However, tickets remained for 75 matches, including both semifinals, all four quarterfinals, and many round of 32 games. FIFA also holds back unreleased knockout-stage tickets that will become available as teams advance.
Many of the currently available tickets fall into the higher-priced category one and category two levels, which FIFA added in April. Several hundred seats costing four figures were available for the semifinal in Arlington, Texas, while only about 20 were on sale for the Atlanta semifinal via FIFA's official site.
Category three seats, the lowest-priced option, were available for only three matches. For the U.S. opener against Paraguay in Inglewood, California, two category three tickets were priced at $1,120, with other available prices ranging from $1,645 to $4,105. Similarly, Canada's opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto had category three seats starting at $980. The only match with category three seats priced as low as $180 was Egypt vs. Iran in Seattle, with over 370 seats available at that price, alongside hundreds more at $550, $875, and $1,000.
Infantino stated that tickets would always be available, as FIFA keeps some seats back for qualifying teams in later rounds and for general sale closer to match days. In addition to FIFA's official resale marketplace, where a 15% commission is charged to both buyer and seller, other resale sites like StubHub and SeatGeek list tickets. Prices on these platforms vary, with the Paraguay-U.S. game starting at $661.25 on FIFA's site and $920 on SeatGeek. Tickets for the final match on July 19 at MetLife Stadium start at $7,986 on SeatGeek, $8,775 on StubHub, and $9,085 on FIFA.