THE first open sale of tickets for the 2026 World Cup showed Fifa will charge up to $10,990 (£8,333) to be at the final.
This is the most expensive ever general admission to a football match in history, based on box office prices as opposed to the resale market.
In its World Cup bid book, the US, Canada and Mexico said tickets to the final would cost a maximum of $1,550 (£1,174), it has since gone up by 615%.
By the time tickets went on sale to members of each country’s official supporters’ club in December, the most expensive was listed at $8,680 (£6,581).
Prices then went up again when Wednesday’s final sale period began.
To compare, tickets for the Qatar World Cup final in 2022 costed $1,604 (£1,214) for the top-priced seat.
Establishing the actual cost of tickets for this summer’s tournament was always going to be difficult as Fifa has never released its pricing structures.
It is also using a version of dynamic pricing, whereby prices change at the start of each sales point depending on past demand.
It is certainly going to be an expensive World Cup, deep pockets will be needed to afford to go.
