Between tickets and travel, the 2026 World Cup is likely to be the most expensive tournament ever. Photo / Getty Images
Fifa’s resale site has listed four tickets on sale for the World Cup final for almost US$2.3 million ($3.9m) each.
The absurdly priced seats for football’s flagship fixture at MetLife Stadium, New Jersey, were being offered behind a goal in the lower deck in Block 124, Row 45, Seats 33-36.
Fifa does not control the asking prices on its resale/exchange marketplace, but does take a 15% purchase fee from the buyer of each ticket and a 15% resale fee from the seller.
It therefore stands to make US$2.7m in commission from the four tickets in question if they sell at the price listed.
Other seats for the July 19 match were being sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds on Friday, with the lowest priced at US$10,923.85.
Telegraph Sport also found tickets for England’s three group games being sold for tens of thousands of dollars.
Fifa says it reinvests World Cup revenue among its 211 members to develop the sport. It put out new blocks of tickets for sale on Wednesday on its direct tickets site. Available tickets for the final cost US$10,990.
Tickets were available from Fifa at US$11,130 for the July 14 semi-final in Arlington, Texas, and at US$9660 and $4360 for the July 15 semi-final in Atlanta.
Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola lent his voice on Friday to mounting concerns about the cost of attending the World Cup.
Speaking after Manchester City froze their own ticket prices for next season, the manager said: “I remember the World Cup years ago was a celebration of the joy of football for the nations there and everyone travelled from around the globe to see their country play there and it was affordable. Now, modern times, it is so expensive. But I’m not there so I don’t know the reason why. Hopefully they can think about it.
“Football is for the fans. Of course, they have to think about sponsors and all this kind of stuff, because otherwise it will not be sustainable, everybody knows it, but fans are the key for how this business can go on.”
The ticket prices for the final are one example of the great World Cup rip-off. Telegraph Sport takes a deeper dive...
Gianni Infantino faced arguably the biggest crisis of his Fifa presidency after it emerged that tickets for this year’s tournament would cost up to US$8680. The governing body scrambled to quash a major revolt from fan groups by announcing an extremely limited number of US$60 tickets for national associations to distribute to their teams’ most loyal supporters. The cost of other tickets has been compounded by Fifa’s adoption of dynamic pricing during the sales phase, from which the cost of the most expensive final tickets soared this month.
Equally controversial has been Fifa’s decision to allow those with tickets to sell them on for above face value, which is why four tickets for the World Cup final have been listed on its resale site for US$2.3m each. To compound matters, the governing body takes 15% of the sale price, as well as adding the same to the purchase cost. It has defended all this – as well as the cost of tickets it sells itself and its use of dynamic pricing – by stating the net revenue generated would be reinvested back into football worldwide.
Given the geographic spread of the tournament, fans have little choice but to fly between venues. After December’s draw, it emerged an England supporter planning to attend the team’s group-stage fixtures faced paying £1300 ($3000) in total for return flights from London, via host cities Dallas, Boston and New York. That figure was estimated to double if Thomas Tuchel’s side reach the final. Although not as eye-watering as the ticket prices, such costs are likely to make the World Cup the most expensive tournament ever in terms of travel between venues.
Confirmation of the draw also prompted hotels across the United States, Canada and Mexico to hike prices for rooms by hundreds of dollars per night. Dates of the opening matches in the 16 host cities were found to have coincided with an average four-fold increase in the cost of accommodation. A room in one hotel for the opening fixture between Mexico and South Africa was listed at US$3882, up from US$157 per night in late May.
Fifa had the temerity last week to accuse New Jersey Transit of ripping off fans after it emerged train tickets for a 30-minute journey from Penn Station to MetLife Stadium would cost more than US$150. That is a near 12-fold increase on the usual US$12.90 for a return fare. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill posted on X: “We inherited an agreement where Fifa is providing $0 for transportation to the World Cup. And while NJ TRANSIT is stuck with a US$48m bill to safely get fans to and from games, Fifa is making US$11bn. I’m not going to stick New Jersey commuters with that tab for years to come. Fifa should pay for the rides. But if they don’t – I’m not going to let New Jersey get taken for one.” Train fares for matches at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, outside Boston, will cost US$80, with coach tickets priced at US$95.
Driving to some matches is no less expensive, with a parking space at the MetLife costing US$225. Prices for Gillette Stadium are US$175 for one car.
New Jersey had already been at the centre of a rip-off row after it emerged in December that the public would be charged for entry to its World Cup fan zone, with tickets listed at US$12.50 on the Ticketmaster website.
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