FIFA ticket‑price controversy leaves empty seats at 2026 World Cup matches

High ticket prices for the 2026 FIFA World Cup have resulted in visible empty seats at several early matches. In Toronto, the opening game between Canada and Bosnia & Herzegovina left about 1,000 of the 44,315 seats unsold, with Category 1 and 2 tickets priced between $1,645 and $2,240. Similar gaps appeared at the Group B clash of Switzerland vs Qatar in San Francisco’s 70,000‑capacity Levi’s Stadium and at South Korea’s win over the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, where thousands of seats remained empty.

FIFA’s variable‑pricing model raised prices for roughly 90 of the 104 fixtures by an average of 34 percent, with the cheapest tickets still costing over $1,100 and final‑match tickets reaching $5,785. The governing body defended the pricing, citing comparison with U.S. sports events, while noting that official attendance figures count tickets scanned, not visual seat occupancy.

Legal scrutiny has intensified in the United States. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have issued subpoenas and launched investigations into allegations that FIFA artificially inflated prices and misled fans about seat locations. Congressional figures have called for FIFA president Gianni Infantino to testify. Only 29 matches were sold out before the tournament began, underscoring the controversy’s scale.