Soaring prices cast shadow on record-breaking World Cup

"I tell you, it will go well. It will be a super event. That's what they’re good at, the Americans. They know how to organise stuff.

"I hope it will be affordable for everybody at the end of the day. I hope that ticket prices still come down. I see the reasons why everybody is sceptical but go there first and make up your own mind."

The words of former Germany striker Jürgen Klinsmann, when asked recently on the 'Stick to Football' podcast about how he thinks the FIFA World Cup, hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico will play out.

It is possible that Klinsmann, who has lived in the US since the early 2000s, may be viewing this World Cup through rose-tinted glasses.

He also had a stint managing the US national team between 2011 and 2016.

Against a backdrop of war, inflation and travel bans in the case of Somali referee Omar Artan, FIFA predicted massive revenues for the 2026 iteration of the competition, which will be the biggest ever World Cup following the expansion of the competition from 32 to 48 participants over 104 matches.

In December 2025, the FIFA Council approved a record-breaking financial contribution of $727 million to be distributed as a result of the 2026 World Cup.

Prize money has been significantly increased, with the pot going up by 50% when compared to the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

The winners will now receive $50 million, the runners-up receiving $30m, with the prize money trickling down to $9m each for those who finish between 33rd and 48th.

Of the $727m approved, the biggest share of that is the overall $655m that has been allocated to tournament prize money.

In addition, teams were granted $1.5m to cover participation costs, meaning all teams at this year's World Cup will receive a minimum of $10.5m.

As eye-watering as those figures are, it is a drop in the ocean to what FIFA expect to make from this World Cup, with football’s governing body forecasting revenues of $13 billion from this four-year World Cup cycle.

By comparison, revenues for the 2022 World Cup cycle in Qatar landed at $7.5bn, which made it FIFA’s most profitable World Cup in history - until the 2026 edition is completed, that is.

"The FIFA World Cup 2026 will also be ground breaking in terms of its financial contribution to the global football community," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said.

Following the final draw for the World Cup, which also took place in December, Infantino described it as "the greatest event humanity has ever seen".

"This is like 104 Super Bowls in one month - this is the magnitude of what we are organising," he added.

But while Infantino and his FIFA colleagues hail their record-breaking century of Super Bowl imitations, will the experience be the same for the match-going fan?

Ticket prices

The price of tickets has been a sticking point for months in the build-up to this year’s World Cup.

For group stage games being held in the US, tickets range from starting prices of $600 (€518) to $5,000 (€4,319).

That is just to buy tickets outright. The ticket resale section on the official FIFA website tells a different story.

The Financial Times reported that almost 180,000 tickets are still available for resale for group stage games, with over 4,000 tickets outstanding for the US’ opening game against Paraguay at the time of writing.

As South Korea overturned the Czech Republic in the tournament’s second fixture, a lot of the discussion that followed was about the number of empty seats in Guadalajara’s Estadio Akron.

The fluctuating cost of tickets, due to FIFA’s implementation of the widely unpopular dynamic pricing model, has been enough to raise some eyebrows.

Complaints that fans were paying over the odds for tickets and purchasing tickets for one area of a stadium but being placed in a different area entirely were noted by state officials.

FIFA was subjected to a subpoena from the states of New York and New Jersey at the end of May as part of an investigation into the ticket structures.

They were joined this week in that process by Texas, where the Attorney General’s office has also opened an investigation into ticket sales for matches scheduled to be held in Dallas and Houston.

"New Yorkers have been waiting years for the World Cup to come to their backyard, and they deserve a fair shot at affordable tickets," New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

She added: "No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchased will be the ones they receive."

Those views were echoed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

"I will work to ensure that FIFA is engaging in ethical and honest business practices so that Texas fans are treated fairly.

"Sports have a unique power to bring people together, and FIFA must understand that Texans take their competition - and their consumer right - seriously," he said.

Off the field, geopolitics has also strayed into the ticket debacle, as Iran said that their ticket allocation had been revoked by the US just days before the tournament kicked off.

Reuters reported that the Iranian federation (FFIRI) said it had already begun the ticket sales process for the matches but could no longer provide them to fans.

"This is despite the fact that many Iranian football fans, relying on the officially announced process, had already made the necessary plans to attend the matches," the FFIRI said.

The federation added: "Depriving Iranian supporters of access to their lawful and official allocation of tickets is an action contrary to the spirit governing international competitions and the principle of equality among participating countries.

"This development raises serious questions about the interference of non-sporting and political considerations in the organisation of the world's biggest football event."

Each participating federation at the World Cup receives 8% of the tickets for each of their matches to be allocated to fans, according to their own criteria.

Match day

For those who managed to secure (or spend a lot of money on) World Cup tickets, an audacious opening ceremony awaits before each game kicks off.

In what has been described as a "bold new vision" by FIFA, teams have been entering the field of play through their own dedicated arch.

As we’ve seen since the first game in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico, each player will stand around the centre circle of the pitch, facing the referee, while the national anthems are played.

A "360-degree ceremony" will engage all fans in the stadium, no matter where they are sitting, according to FIFA’s website.

Later in the tournament, the pre-match ceremony will incorporate additional elements such as coloured smoke or pyrotechnics.

"Having all players and referees face each other in the centre circle during the national anthems will create a moment of unity, pride and emotion that truly belongs to the teams and to everyone in the stadium.

"The FIFA World Cup is about every player and every fan, and this new pre-match ceremony reflects that," said Infantino.

Super Bowl-esque, you could say.

The in-house pomp will be capped off during the final, when the first ever World Cup half-time show will be held.

Shakira will perform alongside Madonna and K-Pop band BTS. This will inevitably lead to a much longer half-time than your standard 15 minutes.

With matches set to be played in soaring heat, fans will be able to avail of reusable water bottles, despite a late play from FIFA to ban bringing them into stadia.

The move faced widespread criticism, and FIFA rolled back on the proposed ban a week out from the beginning of the tournament.

The ban was initiated "to prevent risk and injury to players and attendees", FIFA originally said.

Fans can now bring in one factory-sealed, transparent 590ml bottle, instead of having to hand over the $4 or so each time they will undoubtedly need a drink in the warm weather.

Vuvuzelas, however, remain banned from the World Cup after infamously making their mark on the 2010 edition in South Africa.

Transport

Having managed to get a pair of hands on a ticket and bring a water bottle through security, actually getting to a stadium will still prove costly to fans.

Earlier this year it was reported that train ticket prices were increasing across the US ahead of the World Cup.

On the day of the World Cup final, a ticket from Penn Station in New York to the Metlife Stadium will cost $98.

Prices were originally set at $150 after the increase but were cut due to backlash from fans once again.

Before the prices went up, the same journey would have cost $12.50.

US Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, has said FIFA should do more.

"Charging more than 11 times the normal fare for a train ride is a rip off, plain and simple.

"FIFA is making billions from this World Cup," he said in a statement after the original price for the ride to New Jersey's MetLife Stadium was announced.

"FIFA should cover the ride, not stick New York fans with the bill," he said.

With the tournament now up and running, Jürgen Klinsmann may be right.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup may well be a super event. It may even be the most super of them all, purely based on cost and celebrations alone.

But his awareness of scepticism remains, and with good reason.

All that fans will be hoping for is to enjoy the biggest World Cup in history without the feeling of being fleeced.

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