FIFA establishes new World Cup ticket tier with $60 prices

FIFA has announced affordable entry prices for every country eligible to participate in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. organized jointly by the USA, Canada and Mexico. At the fan entry level, tickets will be available at a fixed price of US$60 for each match, including the final, for each country's participating member associations.

The new level comes after fan groups across Europe petitioned FIFA for dynamic ticket pricing, which changes prices based on the popularity of the teams playing in each match.

“A total of 50% of each PMA allocation will correspond to the most affordable range, namely the fan value level (40%) and the fan entry level (10%),” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday. “The remaining allocation is split equally between the standard support tier and the premier support tier.”

FIFA will also waive administration fees for fans who purchased tickets from participating member associations but their teams failed to register and are seeking a refund.

Ticket sales were carried out by FIFA in stages. at the same time, a third of the tournament’s inventory is in demand during the first two stages. The third stage began on December 11 and will last until January 13. During this period, fans have the opportunity to allocate match tickets based on a random draw.

Before the new tier was introduced, the cheapest ticket for the World Cup final at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium cost fans more than $4,000. The high prices have raised concerns among European supporters.

“The prices set for the 2026 World Cup are scandalous and a step too far for many fans who passionately and loyally follow their national teams at home and abroad,” the FSA, the England and Wales fans’ organization, said in a statement published on its website. website December 12. “Everything we feared about the direction in which FIFA wants to take the game has been confirmed: Gianni Infantino sees fan loyalty only as something that can be exploited for profit.”

FIFA has previously said it adopted variable pricing as it is common practice for major sporting events in North America.

“What FIFA is doing is adapting to the domestic market,” a FIFA spokesman said on a conference call. “In the US and Canada, events are priced according to the demand that comes to the event.”

Before the first tickets went on sale, a FIFA spokesman told reporters that world soccer's governing body expects to earn more than $3 billion from representation and ticket sales and is confident the tournament will break the all-time World Cup attendance record set in 1994, the last time the men's competition was held in the United States.

The 1994 World Cup featured only 24 teams and 52 matches. The 2026 tournament will be twice as large, with 48 teams and 104 games.

FIFA said it received 20 million inquiries during the random sales.

The Sofi Stadium will host eight matches, starting with the USA's opener against Paraguay on June 12. The Americans will conclude group play in Inglewood on June 25, playing the winner of a March playoff involving Slovakia, Kosovo, Turkey and Romania. Two Group G matches – Iran v New Zealand on June 15 and Iran-Belgium on June 21 – will also be played in SoFi, sandwiched around a Group B match between Switzerland and the winner of another European playoff, this time involving Wales, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy and Northern Ireland.

The teams for the three playoff games to be played at SoFi Stadium (the round of 16 games on June 28 and July 2 and the quarterfinals on July 10) have not yet been determined, but possible candidates include Mexico, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Austria and Algeria.

Staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.