As the 2026 World Cup approaches, many fans in North America are eager to get their hands on tickets. The World Cup hasn’t been held in North America since 1994, making this a rare, decades-long chance for fans to watch it here. Although an exciting time for fans, many are unhappy about the high ticket prices.
Tickets went on sale starting in September 2025, with a major Random Selection Draw starting December 11, 2025 and going into January. A random selection draw is a lottery-style ticketing process where fans apply for tickets during a specified window.
Instead of selling tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis, a computerized system randomly selects which applicants will be awarded the opportunity to purchase face-value tickets. Over 5 million tickets have already been sold out of an estimated 7 million in inventory.
Compared to now, the 2022 Qatar World Cup only sold about 3 million, generating $686 million in revenue. World Cup ticket categories range from expensive premium seats at category one and affordable standard seats at category four. Final matches ranged from hundreds to thousands of dollars, with the final match ticket price being $206 to $1,607.
For this year’s World Cup, the price for one ticket is 4 to 20 times more than last time. While prices peaked at around $1,700 in 2022, 2026 prices range from $8,000 to over $30,000. Tickets to the World Cup final were listed at $6,400 in October. FIFA raised the price to $8,900 in November, then to $8,700 in December and $11,000 in the early spring. Front Category I tickets were priced at $33,000 in May. Many students at North Hollywood are expressing frustration over the high cost of World Cup tickets.
Kevin Yoo, a senior in SAS and a lifelong soccer fan is one of many who planned on watching the Cup in person. “I really wanted to go see the World Cup for the first time. It should be something the common fan should be able to enjoy.”
SAS Senior Daniel Koby also voices disappointment in the high prices. “I hate how the prices went up. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see a World Cup in person in the future”.
The average full-time American worker makes around $1,235 each week. You would have to spend weeks worth of pay just to get a decent seat. Since the World Cup is a once-in-a-generation event for North America, pricing fluctuates based on supply and demand.
It’s not only the ticket prices fans are upset about. Fans traveling to Canada, the United States, and Mexico have to deal with inflated hotel and travel costs, including outrageous local public transit markups. Some have launched formal complaints with the European Commission against FIFA, arguing that they are exploiting market rates and using demand-based dynamic pricing to maximize their $10.9 billion projected revenue, rather than keeping the sport affordable for fans to enjoy.
