The $895 ticket now worth $5,324 – inside the World Cup resale frenzy
As anticipation mounts ahead of the 2026 World Cup, the secondary market tells a story few fans expected.
With fewer than 130 days until the ribbon is cut on the World Cup, anticipation is rising in equal measure with the frustration of fans dreaming of securing a ticket but unwilling to pay a small fortune for a Category Three seat in the uppermost tier of the brand-new Estadio Banorte for the June 11 opener between Mexico and South Africa.
Among hopeful supporters eager to inaugurate the new Santa Úrsula venue in what promises to be an epic reboot between the Mexican national team and South Africa, demand has surged back to fever pitch. As a result, outlets such as Yahoo have highlighted the startling transformation in prices, with tickets that were originally listed at $895 now climbing to $5,324 on FIFA’s official resale platform. Yet that Category Three seat in Mexico City is far from the most extreme example.
The exorbitant prices don’t surprise me.
For the World Cup final, scheduled for July 19 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, resale listings have reached nearly forty times the original value – soaring from $3,450 to $143,750. That figure is a far cry from the $9,774 that initially appeared on several resale sites.
In rarer cases, however, prices have dipped. A Group Stage ticket for Austria v Jordan at Levi’s Stadium in California – the venue that hosted Super Bowl LX – is currently listed at $552, despite the original buyer having paid $620.
“Unfortunately, these exorbitant prices do not surprise me. They reflect something we have been fighting against for years: mass purchasing for resale,” said Guillaume Aupretre, spokesperson for the French supporters’ group Irresistibles Français, which counts nearly 2,500 members.
In a statement, FIFA explained that its pricing model for the 2026 World Cup follows standard practices for major sporting and entertainment events in host countries, while also taking into account the legal dynamics of the secondary ticket market, which differs from other regions.
Mexico regulating, unlike US and Canada
Resale is not regulated in the United States or Canada. In Mexico, by contrast, selling a ticket above face value is prohibited, though only when the purchase is made within the country and in local currency.
Since February 5, FIFA has begun notifying applicants who secured tickets in the second sales phase that their process had concluded in January. One final sales window remains, set to run from April through the end of the tournament, operating on a first-come, first-served basis.
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