FIFA announced on Wednesday that it has received more than 500 million ticket requests for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, despite controversy over high ticket prices.
The requests came from all 211 FIFA member countries and territories. Beyond the three host nations, demand was particularly high in Germany, England, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Spain, and Portugal, FIFA said in a statement.
The most requested matches are Colombia-Portugal on June 27 in Miami (United States), Mexico-South Korea in Guadalajara (Mexico) on June 18, and the final in New Jersey (United States) on July 19.
Supporters had until Tuesday to submit their ticket requests, which will be allocated through a lottery system with results to be announced “no earlier than February 5,” FIFA specified.
“Knowing how much this tournament means to people around the world, our only regret is that we cannot welcome every fan inside the stadiums,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement on his social media accounts.
FIFA has faced harsh criticism over its ticket pricing for the World Cup (June 11 – July 19), which features 48 teams this year, with many fans stating that prices are far too high.
According to Football Supporters Europe (FSE), some tickets cost five times more than at the 2022 Qatar tournament.
In response to these complaints, FIFA introduced a new reduced-price ticket category in December at USD60 (approx. 51 euros).
