When FIFA opened the last phase of 2026 World Cup ticket sales on Wednesday, many fans were left frustrated by long waits, technical glitches and hiked prices — with a Category 1 ticket to the final now topping $10,000.
The so-called “last-minutes sales phase” is the first in which fans have been able to purchase tickets on a first come, first served basis, without entering a lottery or receiving special access.
So, at or before 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, thousands logged onto FIFA’s portal — or at least attempted to. Many ultimately waited for hours before being allowed to enter. Some were mistakenly sent by FIFA to the wrong portal — to a special, code-protected sale for dedicated supporters of teams who’d just qualified on Tuesday. They were forced to re-enter the digital queue and face another long wait.
Those who did get through saw limited availability for high-demand matches and some prices that had once again been raised by FIFA, soccer’s global governing body.
Tickets to roughly 40 of the World Cup’s 104 matches were more expensive Wednesday than they had been in any previous ticketing phase, according to fans who gained access and shared screenshots or numbers.
The World Cup final topped the price list — and the inventory made available Wednesday quickly sold out. A single Category 1 ticket to the final cost $10,990, up from $8,680 in December, from $7,875 in November, and from an initial $6,370 back in October when sales began.
Category 2 tickets to the final were listed at $7,380. Category 3 tickets were $5,785 — more than twice the original price.
For both semifinals, prices jumped further above $3,000 in Category 1. All four quarterfinals, and several other knockout matches, were also subject to price hikes.
So were the opening matches in Mexico and Canada, each featuring that country’s national team. A Category 1 ticket to the World Cup opener at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City cost $2,985 on Wednesday, with Category 2 listed at $2,260 and Category 3 at $1,410.
It is now more expensive across the board than the U.S. opener at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. That match, pitting the U.S. men’s national team against Paraguay on June 12, was originally the third-most expensive of the tournament, but it has not sold nearly as well as expected. And prices have not changed since October; they are still $2,735 in Category 1, $1,940 in Category 2 and $1,120 in Category 3, with thousands of tickets available on Wednesday.
FIFA did not lower any prices, despite suspicions that a handful of matches are not selling well at all.
Prices for most group games were unchanged, but for around two dozen, they were higher than in December. The Portugal-Colombia match in Miami — which FIFA said received the most ticket requests this winter — was up 27 percent to $890 in Category 1, the biggest group-stage jump.
FIFA has not said how many tickets will be available in this sales phase, nor has it provided any other detailed information.
It also has not commented on why a link distributed to fans sent them to the wrong portal, which sent them to a page that said: “No products available.”
The link was corrected within an hour or two, but those who entered the wrong queue effectively lost out on the chance to buy coveted tickets. By Wednesday afternoon, there was no more availability for dozens of matches featuring popular teams or in the tournament’s latter stages.
However, plenty of matches — many of the same ones that were available in an unexpected sales window in late February — are still showing inventory as of Wednesday evening.
The sales phase that opened Wednesday is the last of four phases. In the three previous phases — two prior to December’s World Cup draw, and one afterward — FIFA randomly selected fans who’d applied either for specific tickets or for the opportunity to buy. On Wednesday, by contrast, fans were able to enter FIFA’s portal and purchase tickets directly.
They were also able to select seats in specific sections. Previously, FIFA had sold all tickets by category, with each category — Category 1, 2, 3 or 4 — encompassing multiple sections on stadium maps. Now, tickets purchased in earlier phases have been assigned to sections; and fans who logged in Wednesday were able to see seat maps.
The tickets available Wednesday do not necessarily represent the remaining inventory, though. FIFA said last week that “tickets will continue to be released on a rolling basis” — including, potentially, during the tournament. Some could be held back for knockout-round matches. Others could be held back for games that haven’t sold well, a common tactic in the ticketing industry to make demand seem higher than it actually is.
FIFA’s pricing has been controversial ever since September, when the global soccer governing body revealed that it would use a “variable pricing” strategy, also known as dynamic pricing, for World Cup tickets.
It has also been opaque. At past World Cups, FIFA set prices by round and category, and announced those fixed prices months or years before sales began. For 2026, on the other hand, it never announced prices beyond an initial minimum — $60 for a very small proportion of group-stage tickets — and maximum — $6,730 for a Category 1 ticket to the final, a number that has since risen by more than $4,000.
FIFA raised many prices for the second sales phase in November, and raised them further in December, after the World Cup draw and FIFA’s schedule-makers assigned teams to groups and locations. Games involving popular teams, such as Brazil or Argentina, were priced at $700 in Category 1. World Cup final tickets rose to $8,680, $5,575 and $4,185 across the three main categories. Ten other games had prices above $1,000. The cheapest price, meanwhile, was $140 — for a Category 3 ticket to the 18 least attractive group matches.
The new prices revealed Wednesday are the third round of significant hikes. Some matches, such as Mexico’s opener, have seen increases of more than 50 percent.
Even at those December prices, FIFA said it received “more than 500 million ticket requests.” But a select group of the most popular games seemingly accounted for an outsize number of the requests. Then, after lottery winners were selected, FIFA launched an unexpected sales window, in which it offered tickets to at least 64 of the 104 matches, according to fans who sent information and screenshots to The Athletic.
FIFA has consistently defended its ticket pricing and approach as a reflection of North American norms and “extraordinary” demand. But fans, as groups and individuals, have roundly criticized the global governing body. The “sky-high” prices are now the subject of a formal complaint at the European Commission.
The World Cup, which begins June 11, will be played in 16 cities across North America, with 78 of the 104 matches in 11 cities in the United States. The final is July 19 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
