FIFA Struggling to Sell Tickets for the USMNT's 2026 World Cup Opener, Is High Price a Reason?

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The anticipation surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, Mexico, and Canada has begun to be tinged with unexpected challenges.

Ticket sales for the United States Men's National Soccer Team (USMNT) opening match are facing serious challenges, primarily due to sky-high prices and lower local interest compared to other matches at the same venue.

As of April 10, 2026, only 40,934 tickets had been sold for the USMNT's opening match against Paraguay, scheduled for June 12 at SoFi Stadium.

This figure is significantly lower than the 50,661 tickets sold for Iran's match against New Zealand, which will take place just three days later at the same stadium.

One of the main factors behind the difficulty in selling tickets for the USMNT's opening match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is the extremely high ticket prices.

The USMNT's match against Paraguay was set to be the third most expensive match of the entire tournament during FIFA's first ticket sale in October 2025.

Category 1 tickets were priced at $2,730 and Category 2 tickets at $1,940, significantly higher than the Iran-New Zealand match, which ranged from $140 to $450.

The fact that ticket prices have not increased since October 2025, unlike other matches whose prices have skyrocketed due to high demand, suggests that the initial prices were already too high.

The secondary market also shows ticket resale prices already below face value, with thousands of listings on official FIFA platforms and StubHub.Data shows a lack of local buyers for the USMNT-Paraguay match.

Only 8,487 local buyers purchased tickets, far below the 17,080 for the Iran-New Zealand match at the same stadium.

In response to this situation, FIFA denied ticket sales figures indicating a delay for the USMNT match.

Despite this, FIFA claims that overall ticket demand is very high, with over one million tickets sold since the first sale in October 2025.

On April 22, 2026, FIFA announced the launch of additional ticket quotas for all 104 matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be sold online on a first-come, first-served basis.

This move came after the final ticket sales phase on April 1, 2026, was plagued by technical glitches such as server errors and long virtual queues, causing frustration among fans.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino stated that "around" five million of the 6.7 million World Cup tickets had been sold.

However, some experts suspect that FIFA may have overestimated demand for some matches or set prices too high, thus undercutting demand.

There are concerns about declining enthusiasm for the 2026 FIFA World Cup due to a combination of high ticket prices, a complex lottery system, and expensive travel costs.

Comparison with previous editions shows that ticket prices for the 2026 FIFA World Cup are significantly higher

Despite reports of difficulties selling certain matches, FIFA remains optimistic, claiming record-breaking ticket sales.

Infantino added that “we could have” sold all tickets, but “we want to keep a few for continuous sale until the start of the tournament to give opportunities to latecomers.”