FIFA released a new batch of World Cup 2026 tickets on April 22, 2026, exactly 50 days before the tournament kicks off, making inventory available for all 104 matches across multiple price categories at 11:00 a.m. ET via FIFA.com/tickets.
The drop is part of the ongoing Last-Minute Sales Phase that runs on a first-come, first-served basis through the final on July 19. More batches will continue to be released between now and then.
If you are planning to go, there are things you need to understand about how these tickets are priced, what controversies have surrounded the sales process, and which games still have tickets available, before you click buy.
The Tournament At A Glance
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest in the tournament’s history by every measure.
It is the first edition to feature 48 teams rather than the previous 32, which means 104 matches instead of 64, spread across 39 days of competition beginning June 11.
The tournament is co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico across 16 host cities.
The final is July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the same venue that hosted the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final.
US host cities are Atlanta, Boston (Foxborough), Dallas (Arlington), Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles (Inglewood), Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara) and Seattle. Canada hosts matches in Toronto and Vancouver. Mexico City is among the Mexican venues.
The stadiums are primarily NFL facilities, MetLife, SoFi, AT&T Stadium, built to hold between 65,000 and 82,500 people.
FIFA projects total attendance will exceed 5.5 million, which would shatter the cumulative record of 3.5 million set at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.
More than 5 million tickets have already been sold as of this week’s drop. In the initial sales phases, over 150 million ticket requests were logged globally during the group draw in December 2025, a figure that underscored the scale of international demand even as specific domestic games have struggled.
What Is Available And How Does The Pricing Works?
The April 22 drop includes tickets for all 104 matches across Categories 1, 2 and 3, plus a new “front category” that FIFA introduced this month.
The categories are structured by seating location, lower bowl versus upper tiers, sideline versus behind the goal, with prices varying significantly by both category and match.
FIFA adopted dynamic pricing for this World Cup, treating tickets more like airline seats than traditional sports tickets, prices rise and fall based on demand, the teams playing, the city and how much inventory remains.
It is the first time FIFA has used this model at scale, and it has generated significant backlash from fans who found prices dramatically higher than they expected.
The original December 2025 sale priced Category 3 first-round tickets starting at $140 and final tickets at $8,680.
When the sales phase reopened on April 1, prices had been raised to as much as $10,990 for premium categories.
The new “front category” added in April carved the best seats out of existing categories and repriced them at a further premium, Category 1 front seats for the US-Paraguay opener are currently listed at $4,105, up from $2,735 just weeks ago.
The Supporter Entry Tier, a $60 fixed-price option introduced after fan backlash in late 2025, is available for every match including the final, but in very limited quantities per game. Those seats are gone quickly when each drop goes live.
The US-Paraguay Problem
The most striking ticket story of the lead-up to the tournament involves America’s own opener.
The United States faces Paraguay on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and that game, the most anticipated domestic fixture of the entire World Cup for US fans, has one of the worst sales rates in the tournament.
A document distributed to local organizers dated April 10, obtained by The Athletic, showed that only 40,934 tickets had been purchased for the US-Paraguay game.
SoFi Stadium’s projected World Cup capacity is approximately 69,650. That means the US opener was sitting at roughly 59 percent capacity seven weeks before kickoff.
By comparison, the Iran-New Zealand match at the same venue on April 15 had sold 50,661 tickets.
The reason is price. The US-Paraguay game was priced at $1,120 for Category 3, $1,940 for Category 2, and $2,735 for Category 1 in the December sale, the highest prices for any group-stage fixture in the tournament and a reflection of anticipated demand for the host nation’s opener.
Iran-New Zealand at the same stadium cost $140 for Category 3. The pricing gap is more than 700 percent.
The US-Paraguay game is the only fixture involving a host nation, US, Canada or Mexico, that has not seen a price increase over the past six months, because demand has not justified one.
The Wall Street Journal reported that beyond ticket prices, the broader financial burden of attending the tournament in the United States has become its own story.
Ancillary costs, transportation to and from NFL stadiums, accommodation in host cities, food and drink, have surged in the lead-up to the tournament.
A typical subway ride to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was cited as one example of how costs have compounded for fans who already paid thousands for their tickets.
The New Front Category Controversy
The other source of fan anger this month is the “front category” pricing FIFA introduced. The new tier applies to the best seats within sections that were already sold as Category 1, essentially the front rows of what fans thought they were buying as the premium tier.
When those tickets were processed, some buyers found themselves assigned less favorable positions within their category because the best seats had been carved out into the new front category at a higher price point.
The complaint is straightforward. Fans paid Category 1 prices expecting Category 1 seats, only to find the seats they expected had been retrospectively reclassified and priced higher.
FIFA’s April 22 drop includes the front category alongside Categories 1, 2 and 3, making it the first time the general public can purchase those seats at the front-row price point directly.
How To Buy Tickets
Tickets are available at FIFA.com/tickets. FIFA has emphasized that this is the only official source, and fans should not purchase through third-party sellers.
Digital queues are expected during periods of high traffic, the same queues appeared during previous high-demand drops.
Getting into the queue early does not guarantee position. The system manages traffic to improve the user experience once fans are admitted.
The Last-Minute Sales Phase runs through July 19. FIFA will continue to release additional inventory on an ongoing basis between now and the final, meaning tickets that are not available today may appear in future drops as hospitality allocations and other reserved inventory is returned to general sale.
Checking FIFA.com/tickets regularly between now and the tournament is the practical approach for fans who did not secure seats in earlier phases.
Hospitality packages, which include match tickets plus premium experiences, are available separately through On Location, the official hospitality provider, at FIFA.com/hospitality.
These are not subject to the same availability constraints as general sale tickets, though they carry a further price premium above Category 1.
The 50-day mark is when many fans who have been waiting begin to feel urgency.
With more than 5 million tickets already sold and a tournament record attendance on track, the inventory that remains, though still substantial for many matches, will not last indefinitely.
