Still thinking about World Cup tickets? Here’s where prices, availability stand
FIFA uses dynamic pricing and has increased prices several times since tickets first went on sale last fall. FIFA president Gianni Infantino argued on Wednesday that these prices were suitable for the North American market, but was criticized for list prices reaching five figures.
Here’s what’s happening on the eve of the opening of the World Cup:
Many venues are sold out, but there are empty seats for most games.
On the eve of the tournament, 29 matches were sold out (for some of which wheelchair seats were available) and 75 matches remained, including the semi-finals, four quarter-finals, five of the last 16 matches and 14 of the 16 matches in the round of 32. This is in addition to unreleased knockout stage tickets, which will not be available until FIFA knows which teams have progressed to certain matches.
Most available tickets are in the higher-priced category one and two levels, which FIFA added in April.
Several hundred seats, all in four figures, were available for the semi-final in Arlington, Texas, but just over 20 seats were offered for sale for the Atlanta semi-final on FIFA’s official ticket site.
There are not many relatively cheap seats left
Category three seats, the lowest priced category, were only available for three matches. The price of two of these was initially high.
Lower-priced tickets for Thursday’s U.S. opener against Paraguay in Inglewood, Calif., were available for $1,120, but only two dollars remain. Other available prices for the game were $4,105, $2,735, $2,330, and $1,645. More than 100 tickets were listed as available.
The third category sold for $980 for Canada’s opening game against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto on Thursday, while seats sold for $2,240 and $1,645.
Category three seats, priced at US$180, remained for the single game of the Egypt-Iran match played in Seattle on June 26, with more than 370 seats available for sale. Hundreds of tickets were also available in denominations of $1,000, $875 and $550.
More tickets will be available closer to match days
Infantino said “tickets are always on sale.”
The governing body retains the backseats as well as the tickets returned to FIFA.
“We also always have to keep some tickets for the teams that qualify for additional rounds,” he said.
There are better deals in resale markets
FIFA has its own resale market, where it collects 15 percent from both buyer and seller.
Ticket sales are also available on other sales sites such as StubHub and SeatGeek.
On FIFA’s resale site, tickets for the Paraguay-USA match start at $661.25, while SeatGeek’s price starts at $920. Tickets for England’s match against Croatia in Arlington, Texas on June 17 start from $880 at Seat Geek and $850 at FIFA.
Tickets for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, start at $7,986 on SeatGeek, $8,775 on StubHub, and $9,085 on FIFA.
