The first open sale of tickets for the 2026 World Cup showed Fifa is charging up to $10,990 (£8,333) to be at the final.
It is thought to be the most expensive ever general admission to a football match. In its World Cup bid book, the US, Canada and Mexico said tickets to the final would cost a maximum of $1,550 (£1,174).
By the time tickets went on sale to members of each country’s official supporters’ club in December, the most expensive was listed at $8,680 (£6,581).
Prices then went up again when Wednesday’s final sale period began. Tickets for the Qatar World Cup final in 2022 cost the equivalent of $1,604 (£1,214) for the top-priced seat.
Establishing the actual cost of tickets for this summer’s tournament is difficult as Fifa has never released its pricing structures.
It is also using a version of dynamic pricing, whereby prices change at the start of each sales point depending on past demand.
Late last year the cost of the initial ticket releases was described as a “monumental betrayal”. In December, Fifa announced a small number of $60 (£45) tickets.
On Wednesday, tickets were put on open sale for the first time – and gave another glimpse at what is being charged.
What prices have been observed for the final.
It is impossible to assess the overall ticket pricing with no information on the prices, or the volume available in each category.
Going through the Fifa ticketing website and seeing what is still available and what is being charged gives a good indication. However, that does not confirm if there are either more expensive tickets still, or if more were available in more affordable categories.
From what has been observed, ticket prices for the World Cup final increased by as much as 38% in the open sale compared to December’s release.
Apart from the $10,990 (£8,333) category one ticket:
Category two was up 32.78% from $5,575 (£4,227) to $7,380 (£5,596).
Category three increased 38.23% from $4,185 (£3,173) to $5,785 (£4,386).
FIFA also gave no advanced notice of which games would be available on Wednesday, or at what prices, as the “last-minute sales” period began.
Those who did get through found that prices had gone up for the most in-demand fixtures – including the top teams and other key knockout games.
Source: BBC
