World Cup 2026 Tickets Go On Sale for Fans Selected in FIFA's Lottery System

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Publish : 05 Oct 2025, 03:05 PM

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The FIFA World Cup 2026 will take place from June 11 to July 19 in 2026, featuring 104 matches at 16 cities in three North American countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

A total of 48 nations from six confederations in the 39-day tournament which is also known as 'the greatest show on earth'.

Millions of football fans worldwide can purchase tickets for these matches as the purchase window opened on October 1, though the tickets are not available to the wider public.

Earlier, FIFA announced that football fans who are looking to secure World Cup tickets would be selected through a lottery system and further added that the lucky winners chosen through the system would get the first opportunity to purchase their tickets.

The ticket buyers who are selected, out of 4.5 million applicants, in a lottery system held in September, get the first chance to buy tickets. FIFA officials told the media that lottery winners have been or will be notified by email.

“These are not only outstanding figures, but also a strong statement,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on social media. “The whole world wants to be part of the FIFA World Cup 26, the biggest, most inclusive and most exciting event ever. From Canada, Mexico and the United States, to countries big and small across every continent, fans are proving once again passion for football truly unites,” he added.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented the first ticket for the World Cup to US President Donald Trump. -Collected Photo

FIFA also said that football fans from 216 countries and territories applied to be part of the first ticket lottery, but it's yet to be counted that how many tickets they are going to sell in this first window and given the listed stadium attendance figures, there are about 7.1 million seats , although it’s unknown how many of those seats will be available for sale to the public.

However, the football fans can also buy seats in one of four categories: Category 1 is the best seat and Category 4 seats are near the upper levels of stadiums.

Ticket prices range from USD 60 for group-stage matches to USD 6,730 for the World Cup final but may change as the tournament is dynamic pricing for the first time.

However, there are other ways consumers can purchase tickets. In September, American Airlines announced that its AAdvantage loyalty program members can redeem miles for World Cup tickets, beginning October 13 for executive platinum and concierge key members, then October 14 for platinum pro, platinum and gold members, followed on October 15 by all members.

And starting October 2, some Verizon customers will have access to free World Cup tickets and other incentives. Verizon will drop free ticket opportunities to its customers through its app.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented a ceremonial ticket to Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum. -Collected Photo

Meanwhile, there are unique questions for consumers heading into the tournament, particularly about how they’ll get visas, if necessary, to visit the US as the country cracks down on immigration. There are also more traditional concerns such as who, when and where — and none of those will be answered until the draw on December 5.

FIFA, the governing body of world football, knows many fans won’t fret about those answers; they just want tickets now and will figure out the rest later.

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Details on FIFA World Cup 2026

The tournament will begin on June 11 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City while the final will be held on July 19 at MetLife Stadium, also will be known as the New York New Jersey Stadium during the event.

The 2026 edition of the World Cup will follow the same format as in recent years, just with a bigger collection of teams. There will be 12 groups of four teams.

The teams in each group play each other and the top two will advance to a knockout stage. The eight best third-place teams will also advance. The knockouts will be played from the round of 32 to the final.

Hosts -- US, Mexico and Canada -- automatically qualified while other countries in the tournament so far are defending champion Argentina, Japan, New Zealand, Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, South Korea, Brazil, Australia, Ecuador, Uruguay, Tunisia, Colombia, Paraguay and Morocco.

There are still 30 slots unclaimed for next year’s World Cup.

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