Fifty days before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off across North America, soccer’s global governing body has announced that a fresh batch of tickets for all 104 tournament matches will become available to the public this Wednesday.
In an official statement released Tuesday, FIFA confirmed that seats for matches hosted in 16 venues across the United States, Mexico and Canada will go up for grabs at 15:00 GMT exclusively through FIFA’s official website, with purchases allocated on a strict first-come, first-served basis. Beyond this immediate release, the organization added that additional ticket inventory will be rolled out incrementally through the tournament’s final match on July 19, as long as seats remain available.
The announcement comes on the heels of comments from FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who revealed that more than five million tickets have already been sold for the tournament, which opens its doors on June 11. This early sales figure shatters the previous all-time World Cup sales record: the 1994 edition, the last time the U.S. hosted the tournament, sold just 3.5 million tickets in total. Overall, around seven million tickets are projected to be available for the 2026 tournament across the 16 host stadiums, meaning the event is already on track to far outpace any prior World Cup in terms of ticket volume.
Despite the historic demand, the tournament has faced growing criticism over exorbitant ticket pricing. The most expensive seat for the 2026 final exceeds $10,000 before accounting for secondary resale markets, a price point that has drawn widespread pushback from fans. Organizers have pushed back against the criticism, with Infantino arguing that the high prices stem from “crazy” consumer demand. FIFA has employed a dynamic pricing model for the tournament, which automatically raises prices for matches that see higher fan interest.
Controversy flared again this week after U.S. outlet The Athletic reported Tuesday that sales were sluggish for the U.S. men’s national team’s high-priced opening match against Paraguay in Los Angeles. FIFA was quick to dispute that claim, however. In a comment to Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, a FIFA spokesperson reaffirmed that sales across all matches remain robust, saying “Ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup remain strong with a high degree of interest for all matches.”