180,000 tickets remain unsold on FIFA resale portals as World Cup 2026 approaches

Nearly 180,000 tickets for World Cup 2026 remain available on FIFA’s official resale portals days before the tournament kicks off, with the United States’ opening group match against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on June 13 still not sold out, according to a Financial Times analysis.

Around 4,000 tickets are listed on the resale portal for the U.S. opener alone, and as of Monday, approximately 132 regular-price tickets were still available through standard channels. Canada’s opening match against Bosnia at BMO Field in Toronto, also on June 13, had around 226 regular tickets remaining. Mexico’s opener against South Africa in Mexico City is the only host nation’s first match to have genuinely sold out.

FIFA’s pricing structure appears to be the central obstacle. Tickets for low-profile group games in the United States start at around $140, while the most expensive regular seats for the U.S. opener were priced at $2,735 — more than the cost of a seat at the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar. The cheapest seats for that match are around $1,000. The Athletic has reported that ticket prices across all stages of World Cup 2026 are higher than equivalent tickets for any previous FIFA tournament.

The pricing pressure has forced some secondary-market sellers to discount their holdings by roughly 20 percent just to attract buyers, according to The Daily Beast. That dynamic sits awkwardly alongside FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s claim earlier this year that all 104 matches were effectively sold out.

Even U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been closely associated with the tournament’s promotion, acknowledged the prices were steep. “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you,” Trump told the New York Post.

While some analysts have pointed to uncertainty around U.S. immigration and visa policies as a deterrent for international fans, ticketing experts have largely identified FIFA’s pricing as the primary driver of sluggish sales. Ben Shields, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, told NPR that FIFA is likely counting on the spectacle of the tournament itself to offset concerns about empty seats once play begins.

The optics of visible gaps in the stands would be an uncomfortable backdrop for an organisation that routinely markets the World Cup as the world’s most-watched sporting event.