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World Cup ticket guide: Are they for sale? How do I get one? How much do they cost?

Published

2 years ago

February 19, 2024

World Cup ticket guide: Are they for sale? How do I get one? How much do they cost?

The next World Cup will be jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico and will take place from June 11 to July 19, 2026.

It will be the first tournament to include 48 teams, expanded from the previous number of 32, meaning there will be more games than ever — 104 in total.

The tournament is a long way off, so details on tickets are thin on the ground, but this is what we know so far.

Where are the matches?

The World Cup will take place across 16 cities in three countries, more than any tournament before.

Three of these locations are in Mexico: Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City.

Two others are on either coast of Canada: Vancouver and Toronto.

The remaining 11 are in the USA: Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Kansas City, Dallas and New York City.

That U.S. list gives the nearest big city to each stadium. Some venues are located in lesser-known settlements nearby, such as East Rutherford in New Jersey for New York and Santa Clara for San Francisco.

Akron Stadium in Zapopan, Mexico (Sergio Navarrete/Getty Images)

How does the tournament work?

Since 1998, World Cups have had 32 teams, enabling a neat symmetry, but this one is bigger and 48 teams means a somewhat more complex format is necessary.

The tournament used to have eight groups of four teams in which each country played each other once. The top two in each group then progress to four knockout stages — a round of 16, then quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.

The USA, Canada and Mexico all qualify automatically. The remaining 45 slots will be filled through qualifying competitions, which take place separately on each continent.

In 2026, there will still be four teams in a group and the top two will still progress to the next stage, but there will be 12 groups rather than eight.

And the eight best third-placed teams — of 12 — in the groups will also progress, a similar format to the European Championships (which has 24 teams).

Thirty-two teams will progress to the knockout stage, meaning an extra knockout round, before the tournament continues from the round of 16 as it has in previous tournaments.

Where are the biggest games?

The U.S., Canada and Mexico will play their three group games in their home country.

Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, which hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals, will host the tournament’s opening game. The U.S. will host 78 matches overall, while Canada and Mexico will host 13 each.

All of the quarter-finals and both the semi-finals will be in the U.S., along with the final. The quarter-finals will be in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami and Kansas City, while the semi-finals will be in Dallas and Atlanta.

The 23rd World Cup final will take place at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on the outskirts of New York City, on July 19, 2026.

These stadiums are split into three regions, west, central and east, in an attempt to minimise travel for fans. Nevertheless, the distances within regions are vast, with Kansas City and Mexico City (1,385 miles apart) in the same region, as well as Toronto and Miami (1,239 miles apart).

(Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images)

Are tickets on sale?

No.

With more than two years to go until the tournament kicks off, there is little public information about tickets.

A page on the FIFA website simply allows people to register their details to receive information about tickets when it is available. The Athletic contacted the tournament organisers for comment.

How will the ticketing process work?

We don’t know for sure, but looking at previous World Cups as well as similar events like the European Championships, it is possible to make some educated guesses.

Tickets for major tournaments are essentially split into three categories.

First, there are tickets allocated to member associations — the two countries playing against each other in a given match. These are generally given to supporters on the basis of loyalty, for example by points built up from following the country in qualifiers.

How easy these will be to get hold of varies greatly depending on the country — they will be in high demand for the host countries, but easier to come across for nations far away with less of a travelling following.

The second category is those tickets given over to sponsors and other members of what FIFA likes to call the “football family”.

This does not just mean VIPs in glitzy hospitality boxes. For last year’s Champions League final in Istanbul, only about 40,000 went to fans of Manchester City and Inter Milan. The remaining 35,000 went to sponsors and all sorts of other people with links to UEFA. A small number of these may make their way into the hands of ordinary fans through tickets and giveaways.

As the tournament progresses and the games get more glamorous, the demand from sponsors and other “neutral” supporters will get higher.

The third is the rest. These are the tickets the public can buy without being a member of any country’s loyalty scheme or part of the football family.

How will these general sale tickets get allocated?

We don’t know for sure but can take a look at how Germany, the host of this summer’s European Championship, is allocating tickets.

There have been two stages of ballots in which people can select to buy several tickets in four different categories. Cheaper tickets are generally in higher demand, so it is likely to be easier to get a ticket by entering the ballot in a more expensive category.

UEFA has not released details of further ticket sales. Still, there will likely be a limited amount of tickets on general sale between now and the tournament beginning in June, likely for the matches featuring less glamorous teams at bigger stadiums.

Demand for tickets in Germany has been extremely high for several reasons.

(Rob Pinney/Getty Images)

First, attending live football matches is a huge part of German culture, so demand from locals is high.

Second, the tournament is the only European Championship or World Cup in Western Europe taking place between 2016 and 2028, except Euro 2020, which took place across the continent but saw travel heavily restricted by Covid.

This means huge numbers of football fans across Europe want tickets for Germany.

It remains to be seen how strong demand will be for World Cup 2026, particularly in cities like Kansas City and Houston, which are not normally associated with football — but things in the U.S. are changing quickly in that respect.

How much do World Cup tickets cost?

We don’t know yet, but we can look at precedent.

It is often hard to give a definitive answer to this question because tournament organisers often sell some tickets at low prices, which are in reality very difficult to get hold of, with most fans paying far more.

An analysis by German sports consultancy Keller Sports in 2022 found that an average ticket at the Qatar World Cup was £286, rising to £684 for the final. This was a 46 per cent increase on the tournament in Russia in 2018.

Excluding restricted view tickets and a special category only available to Qatari nationals, group stage tickets ranged in price from 40 Riyals ($11) to 800 Riyals ($213).

This steadily increased in price as the tournament progressed, with final tickets costing between 750 Riyals ($200) and 5850 Riyals ($1,560).

There may also be tickets available on secondary resale sites where prices are likely to be far higher.

These sorts of platforms are often risky to use in Europe, with football organisations not cooperating with them because of deeply engrained cultural norms against very high ticket prices.

But in the U.S., this taboo is not in place and it was perfectly possible to buy a Super Bowl ticket through a credible reseller — if you have $10,000 to spare.

It remains to be seen which approach the World Cup will take.

How much do tickets cost compared to the Super Bowl and other major events?

The cheapest face-value tickets for this year’s Super Bowl sold directly by the NFL were about $2,000, far higher than for any major football match.

Tickets changed hands for about five times this on the secondary market.

Tickets for the final are likely to reach similar eye-watering prices, but if you are not too picky about which game you go to, you will likely be able to get tickets for early World Cup games at far more affordable prices.

Is it possible to attend every game at the World Cup?

Football YouTuber Theo Ogden, known as Thogden, attended every game of the Qatar World Cup in 2022, the first person in history to do this at a tournament.

This was possible because of Qatar’s tiny geographical size, although he did have to miss half of several of the games to fit them all in.

But there’s absolutely no chance of anyone repeating the same feat in 2026.

Over a manic 17 days from June 11 and June 27, the entire group stage will be completed — all 72 games of it. The last four of those days will have six games on each of them, spanning the entire continent of North America.

With vast distances between stadiums, fans will have to plan their games carefully.

(Top photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

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Sports

Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

Published

6 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Dominiq Ponder died this weekend, the team’s head coach Deion Sanders confirmed on Sunday with a social media post.

“God please comfort the Ponder family, friends and loved ones,” Sanders wrote on social media. “Dom was one of my favorites! He was Loved, Respected & a Born Leader. Let’s pray for all that knew him & had the opportunity to be in his presence. Lord you’re receiving a good 1. Comfort us Lord Comfort us.”

Ponder was 23 years old.

Details of Ponder’s death are not yet known.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)

Ponder, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound signal caller, joined the Buffaloes and “Coach Prime’s” program in 2024 after spending time at Bethune-Cookman before making his way to Boulder.

Last season, Ponder played just two games for the Buffaloes while serving in his backup role. He recorded two rush attempts and one pass attempt.

The Opa Locka, Fla., native also received tribute from a fellow quarterback with the Buffaloes, Colton Allen.

Bethune-Cookman QB Dominiq Ponder takes a snap during the Wildcats’ spring game Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Daytona Stadium. (IMAGN)

“Dom, you were a blessing to so many people,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “You had a presence about you that just made everything better. You brought so much joy to me and everyone around you. I’m grateful for every lift, every practice, every rep, every conversation we got to share. I’ll carry those with me for the rest of my life.”

Ponder was going to be a part of Colorado’s spring practices, which are set to begin on Monday. It’s unknown if Sanders will postpone the start due to Ponder’s passing.

Ponder also received a tribute from the University of Central Florida.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (Tyler Tate/AP Photo)

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“Our prayers are with Dominiq and the Ponder family along with all in the Colorado football program,” the university’s football account on X wrote.

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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.

Sports

No. 2 UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

Published

7 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

No. 2 UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

Sunday was “Senior Night” for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.

Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds and five assists as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.

Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.

“These are two elite programs, we knew it would be different tonight, we knew they’d come with fire,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, who improved to 9-4 against the Trojans since counterpart Lindsay Gottlieb started at USC in 2021. “We knew we’d have to do it with our defense, our rebounding and by taking care of the ball.”

It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 17 times.

Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.

Charlisse Leger-Walker, nicknamed “X-ray vision” by teammates, equaled her season high with 20 points for the Bruins (28-1, 18-0) while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.

“Anytime we play together we know we can win,” Leger-Walker said. “We did a good job looking into the scout. Every game we just think about going 1-0. People scouting us know that all five players on the court can score the ball.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.

“Going undefeated [in conference] is a great step in the right direction towards what we want to accomplish,” said Jaquez, who appreciated the flowers she received before the game from USC. “I love this rivalry. It’s super fun to play against them and it was nice that they honored us too.”

UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.

USC (17-12, 9-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run but gave up 14 second-chance points and allowed 22 offensive rebounds.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, front, and forward Angela Dugalic celebrate as USC guard Kennedy Smith walks away.

“If we get more possessions than our opponent we’re most likely going to win,” Close said. “We didn’t allow one basket on an out-of-bounds play and they lead the conference in that.”

Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, USC’s leading scorer, got into early foul trouble but still finished with 12 points. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting in the first meeting.

“It was a great crowd, we were in the fight but we didn’t rebound or shoot well enough,” Gottlieb said. “We wanted to keep them out of our paint. We swarmed Betts, double-teamed her and got it out of her hands but other people scored.”

Londynn Jones, who spent three seasons in Westwood (playing in 108 straight games) before transferring to USC for her senior year, was held to six points in the team’s first meeting and nine points (on four-of-10 shooting) in the rematch. The Trojans’ other senior, Kara Dunn, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.

“I love Londynn,” Close said. “We think she looks better in blue, but we love her and I told her that. I appreciate all she gave to our programs.”

Asked if this is the best team she has ever coached, Close had a one-word answer.

“Yes.”

Sports

Israeli national gymnastics team suspends all activities after Iranian counter-attack

Published

19 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Israeli national gymnastics team suspends all activities after Iranian counter-attack

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Israel’s national gymnastics team has suspended all training and team activities amid the recent Iranian counter-attack on the country following the U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.

The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) provided a statement to Fox News Digital announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.”

“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.

“At this time, all training activities have been temporarily suspended, pending approval from the relevant authorities to safely resume operations. Naturally, the suspension of training and the closure of airspace are causing considerable stress and concern. However, the safety and well-being of our gymnasts and professional staff remain our highest priority. We sincerely hope for safer and calmer days ahead, when we can focus solely on sport.”

A source within the team told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began.

Israel’s gymnastics team is considered one of nation’s strongest Olympic programs alongside its Judo and sailing teams. The team is only a week removed from a successful trip at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany, where the country’s star Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in floor gymnastics.

Now, the team will have to seek safety until the attacks are over.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place either in or near their residences as Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel.

Additionally, the embassy announced that due to the security situation, it would be closed on March 2, and did not give an estimate on when it would be reopening. The closure includes consular sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The embassy also said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It noted that Ben Gurion Airport remains closed and there there are neither commercial nor charter flights operating from the airport.

On Friday, ahead of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the embassy gave all non-essential workers permission to leave Israel, with reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged those looking to leave to do so as soon as possible.

Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem.

The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Initial reports said four people were killed when missiles landed in a residential area on Sunday, but that death toll rose to eight, according to Israel’s national emergency service.

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Iran’s military has carried out counterattacks against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after a joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

The strikes also killed several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.