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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’

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Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’

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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.

He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.

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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

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Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.

“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”

Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.

New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)

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He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.

Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.

Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.

Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.

New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)

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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.

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Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more

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Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more

A lot has changed since Jacori Perry attended Morningside High School.

Perry is now a renowned artist who goes by the names Mr. Ace and AiseBorn.

The school is now known as Inglewood High School United.

And the lecture hall on that campus now features a large, ornate mural of a soccer ball being grasped by the hands of two people — freshly painted by the 2004 Morningside graduate as the city of Inglewood prepares to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium starting next month.

Local artist Mr. Ace works on his mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11. The artists, whose real name is Jacori Perry, attended the school when it was known as Morningside High more than two decades ago.

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(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“If you told me that I would be back here painting one of the walls on this campus when I was in high school, I don’t think that I necessarily would have foreseen it,” Mr. Ace said as he was putting the finishing touches on his mural last week. “So I’m a little in amazement about just the way life works in that sense.”

He was one of several Los Angeles-based artists to participate in a Road to World Cup Community Day last month at Inglewood High United. Many of the artists — including Juan Pablo Reyes (“JP murals”), Michelle Ruby Guerrero (“Mr. B Baby”) and Angel Acordagoitia — sketched designs on portable panels (12-feet by 8-feet) and picnic tables for community members to paint.

The picnic tables will remain at the high school in front of Mr. Ace’s mural. The mobile murals will be placed throughout LAX to welcome visitors arriving for the World Cup.

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Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee, said in a news release that the event was “just one example of how the energy of the World Cup can be felt in neighborhoods across our region.”

“Students, artists, and volunteers came together to create a work of art that will live on well beyond the end of the tournament,” Schloessman said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, diversity, and community pride that makes our region so special as we prepare to host the world for FIFA World Cup 2026.”

Community members were encouraged to take part in the painting process, no matter their skill level.

“We made it easy enough for people that have zero experience to a proficient level of experience, for them to all be involved,” said Reyes, who designed and helped paint two mural panels and three tables. “We did the sketch, and then I tried to dab a little bit of color — whatever color is supposed to be there, I dabbed a little bit of color right there, so they would have a guide. …

People stand on a scaffold and on the ground while painting a mural on a large panel.

Students and community members help paint a mural panel during a Road to World Cup Community Day event May 2 at Inglewood High School.

(Dawn M. Burkes / Los Angeles Times)

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“I was right there, kind of supervising, making sure that everything went as planned. And if anybody has questions, they’re more than welcome to let me know about them. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for them to kind of be involved and feel that sense of ownership and have a sense of pride that, ‘Yeah, I was part of that mural-creation process.’ It’s a rich experience for them.”

Acordagoitia sketched several table-top designs for the public to paint at the event.

“They did great,” he said of the community members. “They helped a lot. They were asking questions. They got all the other colors correct. So, yeah, they were excited. A lot of kids were excited to see the live painting, because now kids are used to being on their phones. So that was a great experience for them.”

Acordagoitia also opted to paint a mural panel on his own because “it was a little more technical,” involving portraits of his 8-year-old son, a nephew and a friend.

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“I wanted to focus more on the youth because that’s really our future,” he said. “So that’s, that’s the main thing about the mural, just about the kids, soccer, culture, community. It’s exciting for me, because I grew up playing soccer and to include soccer with art, it’s just a dream come true.”

Guerrero said “the community was a big help in filling in all the background colors that I need in order to build the detail and layers” on the two mural panels she designed.

“My whole style is based on culture. And I think that there’s a connection there with the World Cup and how I feel like it brings together all the culture and just, like, celebration,” Guerrero said. “It kind of goes hand in hand with the type of work I do, because my stuff is really festive, celebrating culture. And just as an L.A.-based artist, I think the collaboration made sense.”

The four artists also took part in another Road to World Cup Community Day in downtown L.A. at Gloria Molina Grand Park on March 14. At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.

While Mr. Ace opted to paint his permanent mural at Inglewood High School United on his own, he was sure to include the community theme into his work.

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“The idea was really centered around just creating something that was community-based — something that represented the World Cup but also represented some sense of community,” he said. “And so what I did was try to create something that was symbolic, very direct in terms of its relationship to soccer and figuring out through that how to create something simple that [brings] into that a sense of community. And that’s how I landed on the two hands holding the soccer ball.”

A man stands in a lift and paints on a wall with blue paint as part of a mural with an ornate design.

Local artist Mr. Ace works on his World Cup-themed mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Back when he was a student on that campus, Mr. Ace said he was always involved in art and knew he wanted a career as an artist. He struggled to come up with the right words to describe how it felt being back there creating a work of art to be shared with the students, all of the community and everyone who happens to see it on the way to a World Cup match.

“I guess there’s no words to really describe it,” he said. “I think if any artist gets the opportunity to paint at their own high school — especially if they’ve been doing large-scale works around the city, the country or the world — I think that is a little touching. When it’s attached to something like the World Cup … you know, a large part of my childhood was spent in Inglewood, so coming from my circumstances and life, I think it’s even more intriguing.”

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.

It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.

So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.

We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

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10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)

After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.

9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)

How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.

8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)

This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.

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