With just 50 days remaining until the opening whistle of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the global soccer governing body announced Tuesday that a fresh tranche of tickets covering all 104 tournament matches will launch for public purchase this Wednesday.
Hosted across three North American nations—the United States, Mexico, and Canada—this new round of tickets will be accessible exclusively through FIFA’s official website starting at 15:00 GMT, and will be allocated to buyers on a strict first-come, first-served basis, per FIFA’s official statement. This release marks just the start of ongoing ticket availability leading up to the July 19 final; the organization confirmed that additional ticket inventory will be rolled out incrementally to fans until the tournament concludes, as long as seats remain unsold.
The announcement comes on the heels of a recent update from FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who shared that more than five million tickets have already been snapped up by supporters ahead of the tournament’s June 11 kickoff. That figure already shatters the previous all-time record for pre-tournament World Cup ticket sales: the 3.5 million tickets sold for the 1994 edition, the last time the United States hosted the event. In total, across the 16 host stadiums, roughly seven million seats are expected to be available for the 2026 tournament, making it the largest World Cup in the event’s history by capacity.
However, the build-up to this historic tournament has not been without controversy. FIFA has faced widespread public criticism over the staggering cost of tournament tickets, with the highest-priced seat for the 2026 final exceeding $10,000 even before counting inflated prices on the secondary resale market. Tournament organizers have pushed back against this backlash, defending their pricing structure. Infantino has framed the high costs as a consequence of “crazy” consumer demand, and FIFA utilizes a dynamic pricing model that automatically raises ticket costs for matches that draw higher fan interest.
Just Tuesday, sports outlet The Athletic reported that ticket sales were underperforming for the U.S. men’s national team’s high-priced opening match against Paraguay, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles. FIFA quickly pushed back against this claim, however. In a comment to AFP, a FIFA spokesperson reaffirmed that overall ticket sales for the 2026 World Cup remain robust, with strong fan enthusiasm for every match across the tournament.