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Four tickets for the World Cup final have gone on sale on FIFA’s resale site, priced at just under $2.3 million (€1.9 million) each.
The seats for the 19 July match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford — some 15 kilometres from New York City — are located behind a goal on the lower deck, in block 124.
FIFA does not control prices on its Resale/Exchange Marketplace but charges a 15% purchase fee to each ticket buyer and a 15% resale fee to each ticket seller.
The lowest-priced tickets for the final listed on the Marketplace were $10,923.85 (€9,332) for four seats, four rows from the top of the upper deck behind a goal, in block 323.
“FIFA has established a ticket sales and secondary market model that reflects standard ticket market practices for major sporting and entertainment events across the host countries,” the governing body said in a statement.
“The applicable resale facilitation fees are aligned with industry standards across North American sports and entertainment sectors,” the statement said.
“FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors, where price adaptations are made to optimise sales and attendance and ensure a fair market value for events.”
FIFA said it reinvests World Cup revenue across its 211 member associations to develop the sport.
Anger among fans
In December, football fans accused FIFA of a “monumental betrayal” after the latest World Cup final tournament, hosted in the US, Mexico and Canada, ticket prices began circulating.
The governing body allocates 8% of tickets to national associations for games involving their teams, to be sold to the most loyal fans.
A list published by the German football federation revealed that prices ranged from $180 to $700 (€153 to €595) for various group-stage games. The lowest priced ticket for the final was $4,185 (€3,561), and the highest was $8,680 (€7,387).
Those group-stage prices are very different from FIFA’s claims that $60 (€51) tickets were available, while the target of US football officials when bidding for the tournament seven years ago was to offer hundreds of thousands of $21 (€17) seats during the opening phase of games.
Fan organisation Football Supporters Europe (FSE) described the current prices as “extortionate”.
“This is a monumental betrayal of the tradition of the World Cup, ignoring the contribution of supporters to the spectacle it is,” it said in a statement.
FIFA said in September that tickets released through its website would initially range from $60 (€51) for group-stage matches to $6,730 (€5,727) for the final.
FIFA is using dynamic pricing for the tournament. This means that the price customers pay can change during the ticket sale process, depending on demand and availability.
Euroconsumers, a European consumer rights organisation, and Football Supporters Europe filed a formal complaint to the European Commission last month over the soaring costs for 2026 World Cup tickets.
Additional sources • AP