Falling prices, fluctuating availability and a lack of clarity. With one week to go until the 2026 World Cup kicks off, many questions remain unanswered about match tickets.
Fifa promised the event would be sold out, but there are thousands of tickets available for sale across several platforms.
BBC Sport has found tickets for matches involving the smaller nations are now available well below face value – across Fifa’s own resale site and secondary marketplaces.
World football’s governing body has itself been accused of dumping inventory it now cannot sell on SeatGeek.
So just how ‘sold out’ are the matches? Will we see a repeat of last summer’s Club World Cup when tickets were sold off at knock-down prices to fill stadiums?
Could the biggest World Cup ever see swathes of empty seats?
World Cup tickets – what do we know?
When it comes to Fifa and World Cup tickets it might be easier to frame this as what we don’t know.
There has been so much secrecy that it seems impossible to be certain what a fair and reasonable price for a World Cup ticket truly is.
Only last week, the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey officially launched an investigation into Fifa’s ticket practices.
Football’s governing body was subpoenaed to answer allegations of “artificially inflating prices” and “misleading fans”.
The ticket buying process has been like a game of pin the tail on the donkey, one where you do not know how much it costs to play.
Credit: bbc
