2026 FIFA World Cup Ticket Guide

Confusion and chaos … that’s FIFA’s specialty. With the entire world anxiously waiting to find out how to get tickets, the information this summer was painfully deficient. But now we’ve gotten far more concrete details as the timeline approaches for fans to actually purchase tickets. So let’s tell you everything you need to know so that you can grab the tickets you want for next year’s tournament.

How can you get tickets to a World Cup game?

This is going to be a multi-layered process, with several ticketing windows that each have different features and requirements.

There will be five ticket “draws”, which means five different, distinct opportunities to purchase tickets.

Your first step: Register for a FIFA account

The first step is easy, and every outlet has been reporting it for months. You need to set up a FIFA account by clicking here. This is nothing more than your ticketing account, and you’ll have a FIFA ID assigned to you when you complete the process. If you haven’t already signed up, that’s fine – you can still do so, as there’s no deadline for this. And if you’ve ever signed up in the past, you can still use that FIFA ID – just make sure it still works, and reset the password if you’ve forgotten it. And make sure your profile is up to date.

Also … you should know that there can only be one registration per household. It doesn’t matter if you live with your spouse, six children, two grandparents, and four cats – you can only have one registration on file attached to a specific address. We don’t know exactly how FIFA will cull these, but since you don’t want your ballot to be invalidated, don’t have multiple people from your household sign up.

Do we know the prices for World Cup tickets?

We do. 

Actually, no … we don’t. 

According to FIFA, tickets will start at $60, which sounds incredibly reasonable. But in the next breath, FIFA announced that they will be using dynamic pricing, which means that ticket prices will be adjusted on the fly based on supply and demand. And since everyone on the planet knows that demand will be absolutely insane for these matches, you can expect dynamic pricing to kick in about one second after tickets go onsale. 

So, when they say that tickets start at $60, we believe that means at least one ticket for the entire tournament will be priced at $60. What’s the price you’re more likely to pay? We have no idea, but we at least know the cap, as FIFA has said that the most expensive ticket for the tournament will be $6,730 for the finals.

We think it’s reasonable to assume that the lowest price for a ticket during the Group Stage could be several hundred dollars. Be prepared for that sticker shock in advance. Four tickets for five games at $300 each would be a quick $6,000 charged to your credit card. 

See … it adds up fast!

Do we know if there are any ticket limits for the tournament?

Each draw winner may only purchase a maximum of four tickets to each game, and a total set of 40 tickets across all events, during the entire tournament.

This is important to understand because if you win the lottery during the first round, and then purchase all 40 of your allowed tickets, you won’t be able to make a subsequent purchase in December when the teams/venues/dates are known. So if you are trying to see a certain team, you need to factor that into your purchasing strategy.

Of course, the flip side is that if you do wait to purchase tickets during a subsequent round, there’s no guarantee that you’ll win the right to purchase during that draw, or if there will be any tickets left for the game you want when you do finally have access.

Do we know what teams are playing when and where? If not, how can we know what tickets to buy if we win the draw?

Ha … that’s the challenge, because the specific team locations won’t be known until December’s tournament draw, and some teams won’t even qualify until the spring.

But, if you’re reading this from North America and are rooting for the US, Canada, or Mexico, they have already announced the dates and locations for the first three matches for each team (all Group Round). Which means you already know which matches to target if you are selected in the draw.

Mexico

Thursday, June 11
Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Thursday, June 18
Estadio Akron, Guadalajara

Wednesday, June 24
Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

If you’re rooting for any other teams, then you won’t know when/where they’re playing until the full draw is announced on December 5. The draw event will take place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

But we at least know where all of these matches are taking place, right?

Yes! The locations and dates for every match are already announced. We just don’t know who will be playing in them (other than those already announced for the USA, Canada, and Mexico). But here’s the breakdown by city/venue:

Houston

NRG Stadium (7)

Group Stage
Sunday, June 14
Wednesday, June 17
Saturday, June 20
Tuesday, June 23
Friday, June 26

Round of 32
Monday, June 29

Round of 16
Saturday, July 4

New York

MetLife Stadium (8)

Group Stage
Saturday, June 13
Tuesday, June 16
Monday, June 22
Thursday, June 25
Saturday, June 27

Round of 32
Tuesday, June 30

Round of 16
Sunday, July 5 

Final
Sunday, July 19

Vancouver

BC Place (7)

Group Stage
Saturday, June 13
Thursday, June 18*
Sunday, June 21
Wednesday, June 24*
Friday, June 26

Round of 32
Thursday, July 2

Round of 16
Tuesday, July 7

(*Canada plays)

Monterrey

Estadio Monterrey (4)

Group Stage
Sunday, June 14
Saturday, June 20
Wednesday, June 24

Round of 32
Monday, June 29

What other teams have already qualified for the tournament?

Aside from the US, Canada, and Mexico, the following countries have already secured a bid for the tournament:

South America: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay
Middle East / Asia: Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
Africa: Morocco, Tunisia

That means 18 of the 48 teams (as of September 12) in the field are already known, but 30 bids are still up for grabs. The qualification process is ongoing, and more teams will be known before the tournament draw takes place. But the final field will not be set until the spring.

OK … so now that I know all of that, how do I get tickets?

Let’s break down each ticket sales window so you know what to expect and how to plan for them.

• Stage 1:  Visa Presale Draw
• Stage 2: Early Ticket Draw
• Stage 3: Random Selection Draw
• Stage 4: Last-minute sales (i.e. whatever is left)
• Ticket Resale, USA and Canada
• Ticket Resale, Mexico
  

Stage 1:  Visa Presale Draw

September 10-19: Registration open (closes at 11am ET on 10/19)
September 29: Results announced via email
October 1-21: Ticket purchase window for winners

This is the first “round” of ticket sales. In order to participate, you need to: 

1. Register here. There’s no need to register immediately when the window opens, as we expect that the site will crash from the mass of humanity trying to register at once. As long as you register by the deadline, you’re fine.
   
   There’s also no specific benefit to registering early – you’ll have the same odds of winning that any other registrant has. The only benefit of not waiting until the last minute is that we expect FIFA’s system to be buggy and slow, and you don’t want to be shut out because you missed the deadline by waiting too long to apply. So just set yourself a couple of calendar reminders so you make sure to get it done.
   
   
2. Have a Visa credit, debit, or reloadable card. You will be required to add a Visa card to your account during the ballot registration process and to use that card to make your purchase.
   
   While you might have enough time to apply for and receive a new card before October 1, we’d suggest that if you don’t already have one, you should either borrow one from a family member or close friend (who would actually loan theirs to you), or go get a Visa prepaid card, which is available from most retailers like Target, Best Buy, Walgreens, etc. But make sure that the card is enabled with 3D Secure. 

TSI TIP: The challenge with a reloadable card is that you won’t have any idea what ticket prices will end up being, and you’ll need to have enough money on your card to cover your ticket purchase. So just be aware that you could easily need hundreds or thousands of dollars loaded onto the card in advance, and that money cannot be withdrawn for cash from the card once you load it.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of participating in the Visa Presale draw?

There is no downside to registering. Even if you win, you aren’t obligated to purchase tickets. All this does is give you a chance to win, and if you win, a chance to buy.

One clear benefit of registering and winning is that you have the chance to purchase tickets before most other people – and while tickets are still available.

The downside to potentially participating in the Visa Presale draw is that if you max out your ticket purchase, you won’t be able to participate in future rounds, when you will know what teams are playing where. However, there’s no promise that you’ll win the lottery again, so if you have the chance to purchase, you may want to roll the dice and take it. At least you would have certainty around which you could make travel plans.

Stage 2: Early Ticket Draw

October 27-31: Registration open
Early November:  Winners notified
Mid-November through early December: Ticket purchase window for winners

If you didn’t win the Visa Presale draw, this is your second chance (and if you don’t have a Visa card, it’s really your first chance). We have no idea how many tickets FIFA will hold back for this sale, but we expect it will be a reasonable quantity. The same ticket limits will apply; if you participated in the Visa draw, the tickets you purchased will count towards your 40-ticket tournament limit.

And you still won’t know which/where teams are playing when this presale happens. Given that, participating in the Visa draw is better since it’s at least earlier.

Stage 3: Random Selection Draw

Dates TBD: Sometime after the tournament draw is held on December 5.

There aren’t a ton of details about this final ticket lottery, but there’s no reason to worry about it for the moment. Right now, you need to focus on the Visa Presale. We will update this when more details are available.

But obviously, the one benefit to this round will be that you will know what teams are playing on what dates in what stadiums. The bad news is that there will have already been two rounds of ticket sales, so supply will likely be limited.

Stage 4: Last Minute Sales

FIFA has indicated that there will be a final ticket opportunity closer to the event. This could just be for random scraps that are left over, or the late release of any ticket holds. Again, we’ll update this as more information is announced.

Ticket Resale — USA and Canada

FIFA has indicated that it will have a resale platform for tickets in the US and Canada where fans can sell the tickets they don’t want or can’t use (or just want to profit on). Our best information is that this platform will operate similarly to other resale marketplaces in the USA and Canada, with no price caps or resale prohibitions. 

We don’t know whether this platform will be compelling enough to make fans bypass more popular platforms like StubHub and SeatGeek, but time will tell. If FIFA does something that restricts the transferability of tickets, then this platform may be the go-to site for reselling tickets. If not, you can expect plenty of tickets to be on the typical resale sites.

One reason to use a FIFA platform is that purchased tickets would be transferred via FIFA’s ticketing system, essentially guaranteeing that the transaction is legitimate and will be completed. Anyone who has ever shopped on other platforms knows that any number of problems can arise that might result in the sale not being completed. So keep that in mind. If we see the same ticket on FIFA’s system as we do on StubHub, assuming the pricing is similar, we’re buying it on FIFA.

Ticket Resale — Mexico

As part of an agreement worked out between the Mexican government and FIFA, tickets will only be available for resale on FIFA’s ticketing system, and only at face value. This was specifically done to eliminate profiteering on tickets, and to make sure that fans could attend the matches in Mexico affordably.

How this will actually work is a question, because if tickets are transferable, then they can technically be resold. We will keep an eye on this and report any better details.

A note about ticket resale

Despite what we’ve just outlined, it’s still too early to understand exactly how all of this will work. We’ve seen suggestions that tickets will be transferrable to “guests”, but that at least one ticket to any given match will not be allowed for transfer (meaning it is expected that the ticket purchaser is attending). But we’ve also seen suggestions that resale in the US and Canada will be without restriction. When there is more clarity about this, we will share the details here.

Can I do anything else to improve my ticket chances?

Well, there is one way we know of, but we don’t have great confidence in it. 

US Soccer is America’s governing body for all soccer in the United States. According to an email sent to their members this week, US Soccer says they will receive a limited number of tickets for each of the USMNT World Cup matches, and will hold their own lottery for their members.

How do you become a member? That’s easy – register here for free and you’re a member. But no, it’s not really that easy.

The lottery will be weighted, with better chances given to those members with longer seniority, as well as those members with premium (i.e. paid) memberships. Those memberships run from $45-$185 per year, and have varying benefits. 

So … if you are already an unpaid member, at least you have some seniority built up that will give you (supposedly) better odds. If you aren’t already a member, you can join now, and if you want to buy yourself improved odds, you can pay for a premium membership.

What’s our opinion about this? Who knows. We’ve read that US Soccer may have “several thousand tickets” to each USA match, and if that’s the case, it’s another avenue to try to secure tickets. But we don’t know how many people are competing for those tickets, so we can’t tell you whether purchasing a premium membership will matter much. But hey – $185 isn’t all that much money (especially given what you may be about to spend on World Cup tickets), so if you want to maximize your chances, go right ahead.

Other ways to get tickets

Purchase the entire set of tickets for a specific venue

The Venue Series includes a ticket to some of the matches at a chosen stadium. But what sounds like an amazing deal on its face has nuances that you need to understand.

First of all, it’s important to stipulate that there are two types of Venue Series ticket packages: standard seating, and premium seating/hospitality. And the rules for each are different.

Standard seating Venue Series tickets

For the standard seating, these packages will apparently be made available during the final ticket draw, which means … the one in December? They don’t make it clear, but it seems like Visa Presale and Early Ticket Draw winners won’t be able to purchase them.

Also, these packages will only include tickets in Categories 1, 2, and 3, and will only include the group stage matches at that venue, in addition to the first playoff match at that stadium, whether that’s the Round of 32 or 16. Under no circumstances will this package include any matches for the Quarterfinals or beyond.

Premium Seating Venue Series tickets

For Venue Series packages sold in the premium zones, they will include all of the matches at that stadium, including playoff matches from the Quarterfinals through the finals. If you look at FIFA’s site right now and select “MetLife Stadium”, you’ll see that they specifically include the Finals match in the package.

Purchase the entire set of tickets for a specific team

FIFA’s Follow My Team option also sounds like an interesting deal. But once again, there’s fine print here that you need to know.

As with the Venue Series, there are two different types of “Follow My Team” packages: one for standard seats, and one for premium/hospitality seats.

It’s also critical to note that the Follow My Team option is not available for any of the host countries (USA, Canada, Mexico), and we’ve also seen that they have blacked out Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, England, Ethiopia, and Peru as well. So if you’re looking for a ticket to watch some other team play through the Group Stage, then this might work for you. Otherwise, you’re better off trying to purchase individual matches.

Standard seating “Follow My Team” tickets

This package provides a ticket to each of a given team’s three Group Stage matches. It does not provide access to any games beyond the Group Stage.

FIFA does not clearly state when these packages will be made available, but if you win the Visa Presale Draw, be sure to keep an eye out for them during your selection window — they might be there.

Premium seating “Follow My Team” tickets

The difference between the standard and premium ticketing options is that the premium option includes a Round of 32 match. And this package is available to be purchased right now by anyone, without waiting to be selected in a draw.

Hospitality Options

FIFA also offers fans a variety of hospitality options to choose from. Those products include the Pitchside Lounge, VIP Seats, Trophy Lounge, and Champions Club, and will include a variety of amenities, depending on the venue. Prices vary depending on which premium option and match/team you choose. The lowest price we’ve seen is $1350 per ticket, and the upper end is $30,000. Visit FIFA’s site to check it out.

What to do now

We know – this is a lot of information. But this is one of the most complicated sporting events (from a ticketing perspective) that most people will ever attend, and the best way to get the tickets you want is to be informed and prepared. 

So right now, here’s what you need to do:

1. Register for the ticket lottery by September 19 if you have (or can get) a Visa card. And if you don’t have a Visa Card, at least go get a reloadable one.
2. Start figuring out where you might want to see matches, and whether the specific team is important to you or not.
3. Look at the “Follow My Team” option if you are interested in a team that isn’t currently excluded from the offering.
4. Look at the “Venue Series” if you are interested in watching all of the matches from a specific venue.
5. Wait for the lottery results to be announced on September 29.
6. Bookmark this page and stay tuned to TSI – we will continue to give you all of the information as it’s released.