On Thursday, FIFA, the global soccer body, opened a new lottery window for a chance to buy tickets to the 2026 World Cup.
Thanks to the recent draw that defined the 12 groups of four national teams (with some pending) and the full schedule for the tournament — and unlike the two prior lottery rounds — fans can now select individual matches.
Starting Dec. 18, fans can access the FIFA ticket platform to see the prices for each of the 104 matches in the tournament, the biggest in history after the expansion to 48 teams from 32 in recent competitions. The Bay Area will host six games at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara (or San Francisco Bay Area Stadium, as FIFA calls it): five in the group phase and one for the round of 32.
Because FIFA is using dynamic pricing, ticket prices have gone up since the first ticket draw. Currently, prices for games in the group phase go from $140 to $2,735. Prices for the round of 32, round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals get more expensive exponentially. Prices for the final are $4,185 to $8,680. Fans across the globe have cried foul because tickets that typically are offered at a lower price to organized groups of fans in each country are costing the same than for casual fans. (The Athletic has a list of prices to every single match.)
We asked FIFA if prices will continue to change and will update the story upon their reply.
Group matches have different price ranges: $140 to $265 for Category 1; $350 to $500 for Category 2; and $450 to $700 for Category 3, depending on the location and the quality and rankings of the teams involved. Morocco vs. Brazil in New York/New Jersey and England vs. Croatia in Dallas are among the highest priced.
Prices for matches in the Bay Area for the group games in each category are among the lowest posted by FIFA. It’s important to note that while FIFA offered four categories, Category 4, which in the case of Levi’s covers a tiny green corner of the stadium (see image below), is sold out everywhere because of the extremely limited availability.
These are the prices for games in the Bay Area:
- Saturday, June 13, Qatar vs. Switzerland: Category 1 ($450), Category 2 ($380), Category 3 ($140)
- Thursday, June 16, Austria vs. Jordan: Category 1 ($450), Category 2 ($380), Category 3 ($140)
- Friday, June 19, Paraguay vs. Euro Playoff C (Turkey, Romania, Slovakia or Kosovo): Category 1 ($450), Category 2 ($380), Category 3 ($140)
- Monday, June 22, Algeria vs. Jordan: Category 1 ($450), Category 2 ($380), Category 3 ($140)
- Thursday, June 25, Paraguay vs. Australia: Category 1 ($450), Category 2 ($380), Category 3 ($140)
- Wednesday, July 1, Round of 32 — 1D vs. 3rd-place team (groups B, E, F, I, J): Category 1 ($765), Category 2 ($605), Category 3 ($275)
Note: If the U.S. wins group D, the USMNT would play that round of 32 match at Levi’s on July 1.
How to buy tickets?
The so-called Random Selection Draw, which is the third phase of ticket sales for the tournament so far, opened at 8 a.m. PST on Dec. 11 and closes at 8 a.m. PST on Jan. 13. FIFA says the timing of your entry to the draw won’t affect the chances to be selected. If you already participated in any of the two prior draws, you can use the same ID to log in to FIFA’s ticket platform and select the matches you’re interested in buying. However, the organization specified that there’s no guarantee that even when successful, people might not get all the matches they requested. If chosen, FIFA will charge your card automatically in February.
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After this new round of ticket access via lottery, the organization will sell the rest of the ticket inventory on a first-come, first-served basis. With 2 million tickets sold through the first two rounds of sales, it remains to be seen how many tickets will be available after this round.