FIFA facing empty seats as 2026 World Cup begins

FIFA facing empty seats as 2026 World Cup begins The 2026 FIFA World Cup is now underway, and billions of people around the world will be tuning in. But the event has been somewhat overshadowed by a long-running ticket scandal which has priced out the average fan. Now, with the tournament underway, and despite the intense demand, FIFA, and their President Gianni Infantino, are going to face the problem of having empty seats at the biggest tournament in the world. Even with the world converging on North America, why are there still so many empty seats? FIFA’s dynamic pricing leads to empty seats at 2026 World Cup The World Cup is set to last 6 weeks over the summer, with 104 games played across 16 stadiums across Canada, the United States and Mexico, with the majority of games played in the United States. For this tournament, FIFA introduced dynamic pricing for the first time. Initially, FIFA priced tickets for the tournament as low as $60, with tickets for the final being capped at $6,730 (excluding suites). When the demand for tickets proved fierce, the price at general sale last December put the cheapest ticket at $140. FIFA raised the prices for almost all World Cup games, with prices rising by an average of 34%. Some rose far higher, and the rise in prices on FIFA’s resale market are even more absurd. For the USA’s opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles, the cheapest ticket recently available cost $2,735. Of course, there’s still a way to enjoy the tournament from home by supporting a team or trying your luck with sports betting. If you’re interested in placing a bet on the World Cup, GOAL has a list of fast withdrawal betting sites in India available. It seems pretty clear now that, with tickets still unsold despite sky-high demand for them, FIFA has flown too close to the sun with their pricing structure. It’s also become clear that FIFA perhaps overestimated the demand for tickets of some matches with smaller fan bases. While the USMNT games will be highly sought after, the demand for Austria vs Jordan is obviously going to be lower. Currently, the Financial Times is reporting that as many as 180,000 tickets are currently unsold for the tournament. For a tournament with this level of demand, it’s incredibly embarrassing for FIFA. FIFA’s resale marketplace causes chaos among fans FIFA ran the only legal fan-to-fan resale channel for the tournament. In the US and Canada, there is no price cap on how much tickets can be sold for, which has resulted in absurd price inflation for most games. Fans and journalists have spotted tickets on sale for thousands of dollars, including one final ticket being sold for $143,750 in February. FIFA continues to stress that its a non-profit organization, but its ticketing revenue is being pushed to its highest level ever, comprising a higher share of tournament revenue than ever before. FIFA will push back by saying that the ticket prices match demand for tickets, but the heavy ticket prices exclude average match-going fans.