The 2026 FIFA World Cup, which was the first to feature 48 teams and 104 matches, was co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the United States from 11 June to 19 July 2026. Spain won the tournament, beating Argentina 1–0 after extra time in the final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

As always, the ticketing allocation system was controlled by FIFA and sold through its official ticketing website. With the tournament now finished, attention turns to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, to be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco (with three centenary matches in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay).

Buying World Cup tickets

For 2026, FIFA sold tickets directly to fans through official sales phases rather than a single lottery. The process opened with a Visa Presale Draw in September 2025 (with early access for Visa cardholders), followed by further random-selection and first-come, first-served phases, and finished with a last-minute sales phase that ran through to the final. Travel and hospitality packages that bundle match tickets with accommodation were also available as an alternative route in.

Ticket prices and dynamic pricing

2026 was the first men's World Cup for which FIFA used variable, or "dynamic," pricing, meaning prices moved up and down with demand rather than staying fixed. Tickets started at around $60 for group-stage matches and ranged up to roughly $6,730 for the final at initial release. As demand climbed, prices for the biggest matches rose sharply — top-tier tickets for the final reached a face value of about $32,970 by May 2026, with resale-market listings running far higher.

Ticket sales figures

According to FIFA, more than six million tickets had been sold by 10 June 2026, the eve of the opening match, which is the highest raw ticket total in World Cup history. FIFA reported nearly two million tickets sold by late November 2025 as the earlier sales phases progressed.

The high total partly reflects the expanded format: with 48 teams and 104 games, the 2026 tournament offered roughly 40% more matches (and therefore more tickets) than the 64-game, 32-team events that came before, so the raw numbers are not directly comparable to earlier World Cups.

Previous World Cups

According to the FIFA official website, a total of 3,182,406 tournament tickets were sold at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. As a result, the ticketing programme for the FIFA World Cup 2022 generated $686 million in revenue.

According to FIFA, for the 2018 World Cup, a total of 622,117 tickets were allocated in a first random draw sales phase from almost 3.5 million applications. International prices for the 2018 Russia tournament started at $105, while Russians could buy tickets at 1280 rubles ($22).

Almost 150,000 applications were for the opening match on June 14 involving the Russian team, and more than 300,000 for the July 15 final, both held at Moscow’s Luzhniki stadium.

In the first sales phase at earlier World Cups, there were 6.1 million applications for Brazil 2014, 1.6 million for South Africa 2010, and more than 10 million for Germany 2006.