ZURICH — FIFA announced Wednesday that new tickets for all 104 matches of the 2026 World Cup will go on sale at 10 a.m. CT, in what the organization is calling a “Last Chance Sales Phase” — a name that has also been used to describe the previous three sales phases, each of which ended in website crashes, sobbing fans, and a resale market that FIFA officially condemns and unofficially seems to find very interesting.
The tournament, set to be played across the United States, Mexico, and Canada from June 11 to July 19, is widely considered the largest sporting event ever hosted in North America, a distinction FIFA celebrates by periodically releasing tickets one at a time like a cat pawing a toy off a table.
“We are extremely confident in our ticketing infrastructure. We have added new servers, improved our queue system, and hired seventeen additional people to apologize when the site crashes.” — FIFA ticketing director Helmut Queuermann, who has given this statement four times since January
Fans who attempted to purchase tickets during previous sale windows described experiences including: queue times of three hours, countdown timers that reset without explanation, payment confirmations that were later reversed, and one case in which a man in Ohio was accidentally issued tickets to a match in Guadalajara that is scheduled for a date that doesn’t exist.
The resale market, meanwhile, has flourished robustly. Tickets for the final — to be played at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19 — are currently listed on secondary sites starting at $4,800, rising to $28,000 for seats with an obstructed view of the pitch and a clear view of a structural column.
The NBA playoffs are also in full swing this week, providing American fans a useful reminder that sports can, in fact, be watched in person without a four-month ticketing odyssey. The Cavaliers extended their series lead with a dominant performance, achieving this in the traditional way, by playing basketball, rather than by crashing a FIFA server.
“I’ve been trying to get World Cup tickets since November. At this point, I’ve accepted I will watch it from a pub in my hometown. Which is fine. My hometown is great. I have never been to my hometown.” — Thomas Greville, London, age 34, who moved to his hometown specifically for this purpose
FIFA confirmed the tickets going on sale Wednesday cover all group stage, round-of-sixteen, quarterfinal, semifinal, third-place, and final matches, with pricing starting at $29 for opening round games and reaching $2,200 for the final — before service fees, which FIFA describes as “nominal” in the same sense that a mortgage is technically a loan.
The organization also confirmed that, per regulations, all unsold tickets will be returned to official channels, where they will be re-released in a future “Absolute Final Last Chance We Really Mean It This Time Phase,” date to be announced.
Globe News Daily editorial note: Our sports editor purchased five tickets to the final. They were confirmed, then cancelled, then reconfirmed, then upgraded, then downgraded, and are currently listed as “processing.” He is doing fine.
Leave a Reply