FIFA still has roughly 180,000 World Cup tickets unsold days before kickoff
About 180,000 seats remain available across U.S., Canada, and Mexico host cities as opening matches approach, raising empty-seat concerns and prompting state investigations into dynamic pricing and resale fees.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup opening on June 11, ticket inventory is shaping up differently than the record demand narrative suggested earlier this year. Reporting from host markets indicates roughly 180,000 tickets remain unsold across venues in the United States, Canada, and Mexico — a surplus that has fueled concern about empty sections and weaker-than-expected walk-up sales for the sport’s biggest event.
Official resale channels tell a mixed story. FIFA’s resale marketplace has listed on the order of 176,000 tickets for the opening group stage alone, while FIFA’s primary site still showed thousands of face-value seats for early-round matches. Median resale prices on official channels have reportedly fallen about 20% over the past month even after accounting for FIFA’s resale fee, suggesting some holders are cutting prices to move inventory.
Pricing remains a flashpoint. Face-value tickets for many matches still sit well above levels fans saw at prior World Cups, and resale listings for marquee fixtures — including the final at MetLife Stadium — have reached extreme highs before softening. For the U.S. men’s opener against Paraguay, thousands of seats were still listed across official channels with averages above $800 on some portals, while FIFA’s lowest direct inventory has been reported above $1,100 for certain categories.
Regulators are now involved. Attorneys general in New York and New Jersey have opened investigations into FIFA’s ticketing practices, including dynamic or variable pricing, seat-map changes after purchase, and whether marketing around scarcity matched actual supply. BBC Sport reported that face-value tickets were still available for most of the 104 matches as of early June, despite months of messaging about overwhelming demand.
For ticket shoppers, the takeaway is practical: primary inventory is not sold out, resale prices are moving, and fees still matter. Comparing all-in prices across FIFA’s official store, authorized resale, and secondary marketplaces remains the safest way to avoid overpaying — especially for group-stage matches where supply is clearly still open.