FIFA plans dynamic pricing for 2026 World Cup ticket sales

Home » FIFA plans dynamic pricing for 2026 World Cup ticket sales

Fans hoping to score affordable tickets to attend the 2026 men’s World Cup in North America may find that an impossible task, as FIFA plans to introduce a dynamic pricing model for most general-sale seats, according to multiple reports published this week. News of the single-match tickets being subject to the surge pricing practice came close on the heels of the reveal of “hospitality” package ticket prices through On Location – which drew widespread rebuke for the enormous price tag for the world’s largest sporting event.

Dynamic pricing uses algorithms that raise or lower prices based on demand, a practice that has become common in the U.S in recent years. This pricing model has been largely absent from global soccer tournaments and international events in general. Under the plan, fixed prices would apply only to a small allotment of tickets reserved for the competing national federations, while the vast majority of seats offered directly to the public would fluctuate.

FIFA has said only that ticket sales will open in the third quarter of 2025 on its official website, with details to come, but sources familiar with the governing body’s planning told The Athletic that dynamic pricing is the working framework.

The 48-team World Cup—spread across 16 host cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico—represents the first edition to be run entirely by FIFA without a local organizing committee. The “United” bid projected $1.8 billion in ticketing revenue, and FIFA has since set an overall cycle target of $13 billion, underscoring the sport’s clear decision to derive enormous revenue from its signature event through a sharp increase in ticket prices.

Supporter groups blasted the move as another step that prices average fans out of the sport’s premier event. “We are very critical of the idea—it does not belong to football,” Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, told The Athletic. “The least FIFA could do is keep the prices the same as in 2022. FIFA is a highly profitable machine with huge reserves, so there is no justification for raising prices.”

Recent FIFA events offer a preview of the model’s realities. Tickets for this summer’s expanded Club World Cup in the United States have dropped to as low as $30 for low-demand matches but climbed to $100 and higher for games involving Real Madrid. Last year’s Copa America, also staged on U.S. soil, used similar technology, delivering triple-digit parking fees and soaring seat prices for marquee fixtures.

Consumer advocates argue that dynamic pricing rarely works to fans’ advantage once initial inventory thins out. The United Kingdom’s government is already probing the practice amid criticism from the live-events sector, and European clubs that have flirted with algorithm-driven ticketing—such as Spain’s Valencia CF—have met fierce backlash at home.

With World Cup ticket sales still at least a year away, supporters are urging FIFA to add guardrails or scrap the plan altogether. For now, fans can only wait to learn how far prices may swing when the world’s biggest sporting event adopts one of the ticketing industry’s most controversial tools.