Back in November, when 2026 World Cup ticket demand seemed overwhelming and “extraordinary,” FIFA said that “nearly 2 million tickets” had been sold in two early sales phases.
Inventory, it said, had been “snatched up by fans in more than 200 countries and territories.” The assumption was that FIFA would have no trouble selling the tickets that remained — likely via its third and final lottery.
And sure enough, as that lottery closed, FIFA boasted of “more than 500 million ticket requests.” Its president, Gianni Infantino, said that the “508 million” requests, “to be precise,” were “for around 7 million tickets that we have on sale.” All FIFA had to do, then, to fill every World Cup seat, was fulfill less than 1% of those requests — for around 5 million tickets, according to Infantino’s framing.
But on Wednesday, as it promoted a fourth sales phase beginning next week, FIFA said that the 500-plus million requests had resulted “in over one million tickets being sold by the end of that (third) sales period.”
And in ticketing circles, keen eyebrows were raised.
Even if Infantino’s “7 million tickets on sale” were an exaggeration (which it was), and even if “over one million” were actually 1.5 million, the number seemed to suggest that FIFA sold less than half of its remaining inventory.
The actual math is more complex, but still, it’s an indication that plenty of tickets will be available in a “Last-Minute Sales Phase” starting April 1.
And the most logical explanation for the gap between inventory and sales is what it was when FIFA launched an unexpected sales push last month: demand, for some games and ticket categories, has been overstated — or, perhaps more accurately, priced out.
There are other potential explanations. Perhaps a bunch of bots infiltrated the lottery. Perhaps a bunch of tickets, more than we realize, have been gifted to partners or other stakeholders. Perhaps millions of tickets we thought were available, and that Infantino said were “on sale,” aren’t being sold to the general public at all. Or perhaps some have been held back so that FIFA can eventually sell them at higher prices as the tournament nears — or even during it.
Either way, the cumulative capacity at the World Cup’s 104 matches is roughly 6.7 million.
And with 77 days until kickoff, it appears that less than 6 million tickets — perhaps significantly less — are accounted for.
There were “nearly 2 million” sold in the fall and “over 1 million” sold to the general public this winter.
Another million or so are allocated to dedicated supporters of participating teams — though not all of those have sold, and it’s unclear if the ones that have are included in the “over one million” number mentioned Wednesday.
Another chunk are hospitality tickets, which are sold separately, and could total around 1 million tickets across all matches — though not all of those have been sold either.
Another 100,000 or so have been sold via the digital collectibles platform FIFA Collect. Other chunks go to FIFA’s sponsors and rights-holding broadcasters. Yet another allotment goes to national soccer federations whose teams are participating, and while most of those allotments are the “supporters tickets,” small proportions go to employees and other stakeholders.
In other words, the math is complicated. There are not 4 million tickets still available. A majority of seats will, ultimately, be full.
But it now seems that over 1 million tickets — or, at the very least, hundreds of thousands — are still out there and could be available this spring.
President Trump already has his ticket… (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP / Getty Images)
The likely truth about World Cup ticket availability
FIFA spokespeople, when asked to explain why more tickets weren’t sold in the “Random Selection Draw” lottery this winter, declined to comment.
The main point of their Wednesday release was to advertise the “Last-Minute Sales Phase” that opens April 1. At 11 a.m. ET next Wednesday, “additional tickets” will go on sale to the general public on FIFA’s ticketing portal.
For months, fans have wondered how many tickets — to which matches and at what prices — would go on sale. FIFA won’t say, but the answer seems to be trickling out piece by piece.
First, there was the surprise sales window. In late February, FIFA emailed fans advertising an “exclusive additional chance to purchase,” then offered tickets to at least 64 of the 104 games, according to fans who sent information and screenshots to The Athletic.
It spoke to the likely truth behind the “508 million” ticket requests, a number that “doesn’t tell the whole story,” Jim McCarthy, a ticketing industry veteran, told The Athletic.
The whole story is that there has likely been unprecedented demand for certain World Cup games — the ones that weren’t available in the out-of-nowhere February window. There were no tickets offered to the final nor the semifinals, nor any match involving Argentina, England or Mexico. Those, plus games featuring Brazil, Colombia and a few others, plus the knockout rounds, likely drew the vast majority of the purported 508 million ticket requests.
And then there are the rest. There were dozens of games, including the U.S. national team’s opener against Paraguay, for which tickets seemed plentiful.
They were especially plentiful in Category 1 and 2, the more expensive categories — a sign that the vast majority of ticket requests were also for Category 3, the cheaper (and seemingly scarcer) category.
Wednesday’s revelation of “over 1 million tickets” sold in the winter is likely further confirmation that demand was skewed toward Category 3 and toward the upper-echelon games, and that other games and categories remain available.
FIFA’s last-minute sales phase
Some, though not necessarily all will be available when general sales resume on April 1 — for the first time without a lottery. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. And for the first time, fans will be able to select specific seats.
Previously, FIFA sold tickets by category. Those have now been converted to specific rows in specific sections. “To select specific seats, fans can choose directly from the seat map option, or they can use the ‘Book the best seat’ feature,” FIFA said in its release.
It added: “Ticket holders who have bought tickets in previous phases will also be able to see the seats that have been allocated to them via their FIFA account” starting April 1.
It also advised fans to “check FIFA.com/tickets regularly,” because “tickets will continue to be released on a rolling basis.” In other words, not every remaining ticket will be available on April 1. Some, including for knockout rounds, could even become available during the tournament in June and July.
What tickets will be available next Wednesday? To which matches? At what prices? As usual, FIFA hasn’t said.
When faced with lagging ticket sales as last year’s Club World Cup approached, it slashed prices significantly. It’s unclear whether that will happen in 2026.
In its release, FIFA said that the World Cup’s “cumulative attendance record of 3.5 million set [in 1994] is on course to be surpassed during this year’s competition.”
In 1994, there were 24 teams and 52 matches, half as many as there are in 2026.
