Published On 6/5/2026
Perhaps dozens of football fans could not contain their joy when, a few days ago, they received free tickets they had applied to purchase for the 2026 World Cup matches.
But that joy did not last long after, on Thursday, they received emails from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) confirming that a strange kind of error had occurred, and telling them to cancel those tickets, with the opportunity to “buy” them again, this time at their real prices.
What happened was that the purchases made electronically last May 21 witnessed technical errors that caused those tickets to be sold to fans without any financial compensation, “for free.”
According to the American network ESPN, FIFA acted quickly and canceled those tickets, and also issued a statement in which it said it regretted this error and any inconvenience that may have resulted from it.
The FIFA statement also stated that tickets are still reserved for those fans who requested to buy them but will now have to pay their actual prices.
Controversy continues
The strange error is the latest flaw in the way World Cup tickets are sold, which has sparked widespread controversy for months, noting that it is currently the subject of an investigation by the Attorneys General of New York and New Jersey, alleging possible violations of consumer protection laws.
The error also came more than three months after FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that tickets for all 104 matches in the tournament had been completely sold.
However, FIFA is still offering tickets for the World Cup matches, which begin next Thursday in Mexico City, amid expectations that their prices will decrease for the less-demanded matches, under the “variable pricing based on demand” model adopted by FIFA, which has sparked fans’ dissatisfaction.
The International Federation runs its own platform for reselling tickets, and charges a 15% commission from both buyers and sellers, with the stated aim of eliminating ticket intermediaries from the market. However, third-party selling platforms still offer tickets for sale today.
Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are sold at much more expensive prices compared to any previous version. This sparked widespread criticism, while FIFA defended this policy, stressing that it helps generate billions of dollars in revenues that are allocated to member associations in order to develop the game globally.
FIFA is responsible for pricing and selling tickets for the 2026 World Cup as part of its plan to manage World Cup operations internally, noting that the model followed in previous tournaments was based on cooperation with the local organizing committees in the host countries.
The price of the cheapest ticket available for the least requested matches in the United States is approaching hundreds of dollars, noting that the soccer federations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico have previously pledged to sell hundreds of thousands of tickets for group stage matches at a price of $21 per ticket.
