World Cup ticket sales are about to begin. Scoring them may not be easy — or cheap

The first opportunity to score regular tickets for the 2026 World Cup is on Wednesday. But be warned: Tickets may not be easy to get — and they likely won’t be cheap.

Demand for the popular men’s tournament is expected to soar even higher once the tournament kicks off across the United States, Mexico and Canada in June.

FIFA, the organization behind the World Cup, is also upending the way it sells tickets for its flagship tournament, which could compound the challenges of scoring them.

Most prominently, FIFA is set to unveil a controversial pricing system: They say it’s not the same as dynamic pricing — but prices will adjust based on demand.

Here’s what to know about ticket sales for the World Cup.

There will be multiple sales dates for tickets

The first window to get tickets will open on Sept. 10 and end on Sept. 19 — but only for eligible VISA cardholders. And they must first register their interest with FIFA. And people won’t be able to actually buy tickets then.

According to information provided by FIFA, those who apply will be drawn into a lottery. If successful, they will be provided with a specific date and time slot to buy tickets starting on Oct. 1.

Those who are selected have the chance to buy tickets for any of the 104 games that will held in all three countries next year — including the final. Buyers just won’t know who’s actually playing in them, since the draw won’t be held until Dec. 5.

Venue-specific ticket packages, meaning tickets to a handful of games in a specific host city like Boston or Mexico City, will also be available. In addition, spectators can buy tickets that are specific to a national team, but only for the three group games that each team will play.

Other opportunities to buy tickets will follow, including in late October, after the group draw, and next year.

FIFA will also operate a resale platform for ticket holders who no longer want to attend a match, as it has in previous tournaments.

Tickets will start at $60 per game — with a big catch

FIFA has touted that some group-stage tickets will start at $60, saying that will offer “an accessible entry point to the tournament.” Still, the association notes that the “most exclusive” tickets could reach up to $6,730 for the final.

But what they are not touting so loudly is that the organization will also implement pricing that will fluctuate based on demand, a first for the World Cup.

It’s not dynamic pricing per se; they’re calling it “variable pricing.” But the differences between the two can be hazy.

Heimo Schirgi, the FIFA World Cup 26 Chief Operating Officer, says variable pricing means that “how the prices are adjusted are not as steep and are more balanced across the different phases.”

A FIFA official further told NPR that pricing won’t be set by “automated algorithms,” but will be guided by a team of people who will be regularly “monitoring and making adjustments in real time” to ticket prices based on supply and demand — which suggests that FIFA officials can ultimately determine how high they are willing to let prices go. (The official declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media in an official capacity.)

FIFA has justified its decision by saying it’s simply adapting to the U.S. and Canadian markets, where professional teams regularly use the controversial sales practice of adjusting tickets based on demand, just as airlines or hotels do.

FIFA’s “variable pricing” will apply from the actual start of the sales window in October, which means that the $60 “accessible entry point” could quickly rise, depending on how aggressive the organization will be with pricing.

Prices adjusted to demand could also be implemented on FIFA’s planned resale platform in the U.S. and Canada, though FIFA has not given exact details.

However, in Mexico, the resale platform will operate as an exchange platform, meaning buyers can receive up to the amount they spent buying a ticket from FIFA — and no more. That’s the way FIFA had operated its resale platforms in the past.

Demand for the 2026 World Cup is likely to be huge

Of course, adjusting pricing based on demand doesn’t necessarily mean prices will rise higher. At the FIFA Club World Cup — a tournament held in the U.S. this year — pricing actually dropped for a number of games because demand was lower than anticipated.

But the World Cup is far bigger and more established than the Club World Cup. FIFA has previously said it is expecting over 5 million people to attend next year’s edition.

That would shatter the previous record from 1994, the last time the U.S. hosted, attracting over 3.5 million spectators.

That’s in part a function of the vastly expanded tournament, which will now consist of 48 teams, more than the 32 that participated in the previous World Cup in Qatar. The 2026 World Cup will also be held in three countries and staged in venues such as MetLife Stadium, which has a capacity of over 80,000.

Nonetheless, demand will likely be higher than supply, and getting tickets may prove difficult.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA said it received over 23 million requests for about 3.4 million available tickets, meaning buyers who wanted to score tickets had a success rate of only about 15%.

There are other ways to get tickets — including hospitality and a “right to buy” system

For those who do not want the uncertainty of trying to buy regular seats during a sales window, there is another way to attend — but it will cost you.

They’re called “hospitality tickets,” and these premium tickets are well known to American fans. They give the ticketholder access to a reserved seating area, such as a box, along with a variety of beverages and food.

But they are pricey. Hospitality tickets have already been on sale since earlier this year, including for individual games and packages that at one point reached $73,200.

Prices have also fluctuated through the year based on demand. Right now, the cheapest hospitality ticket for a single game is listed at $1,350.

FIFA has also introduced a new ticket sales method called “right to buys,” or RTBs. These offer buyers a guaranteed opportunity to buy tickets for specific games, including the final. To get one, fans have to buy digital cards which FIFA releases, or “drops,” periodically. They’re kind of like electronic baseball cards; they typically contain a scene or video from a previous World Cup game.

Prices range from the hundreds of dollars for guaranteed opportunities to buy playoff games down to cheaper “surprise packs” that may or may not contain an RTB. That doesn’t even factor in the actual price of the ticket, which buyers will need to pay when FIFA makes them available.

FIFA even runs a marketplace where RTB owners can buy and sell these opportunities.

It may be the most profitable World Cup tournament ever

The combination of variable pricing and more games will likely lead to the most profitable World Cup tournament ever.

Bloomberg Intelligence estimates FIFA could rake in a record $4.4 billion, not only from general sales tickets but also by leaning heavily on hospitality seats. Such a haul would also mark a 378% surge from the last men’s tournament in Qatar, according to equity research analyst Kevin Near, reflecting in part the expanded tournament with 104 matches and 48 national teams.

“These stadiums are massive, they have huge occupancy,” Near says. “And because there has been such a focus now for a little while on building out premium and luxury spaces, that’s where you’re going to see a lot of those dollars come from.”

FIFA, however, is particularly sensitive to criticism that it’s just seeking profits, saying the vast majority of the money it raises from its tournaments is intended to be distributed across its 211 member associations to help support the growth of soccer worldwide.

“As part of that mission, which we take very seriously, we’re looking at optimizing the revenue, but also optimizing attendance in the stadia, so it’s always a balance between different factors,” Schirgi from FIFA World Cup 26 said in an emailed statement.

Of course, achieving that balance doesn’t necessarily mean ticket prices will be low. So when that first ticket sales window opens on Wednesday, one thing’s for sure: Buying a World Cup ticket may turn into quite a game.