FIFA, the world body governing soccer, is set to cash in big time on the hugely inflated prices of scalped tickets to next year's World Cup in North America.
The men's football tournament will take place in June and July 2026 in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The majority of the games will be played in the USA, where there are no federal laws limiting the price of reselling tickets.
Tickets to the World Cup, which began being released in limited presale phases last month, can only be resold through FIFA's official website and the body itself is set to profit massively off the scalping of tickets by charging both the seller a 15% fee and the buyer another 15% fee, effectively making $30 off every $100 of tickets sold.
It's not good news for your everyday sports fan, but it's very good news for FIFA's coffers
David Rowe, professor at Western Sydney University
"FIFA is clipping the ticket both ways – this will drive up prices for real fans and shows they have no interest in equity or access," says David Rowe, emeritus professor of cultural research at the Western Sydney University.
"It's not good news for your everyday sports fan, but of course, it's very good news for FIFA's coffers."
USA's 'Wild West' of ticketing
While Mexico does have laws prohibiting the reselling of tickets at marked up prices, the USA, where the majority of games including the quarter finals, semi-finals and final are being played, does not.
At previous World Cups, FIFA limited the reselling of tickets to face value and took a smaller percentage in resale fees.
Only a limited number of presale tickets to the tournament have gone on sale so far and they are already reselling at sky-high prices.
CHOICE checked FIFA's official reselling website on Tuesday and found Category 1 tickets (the best seats) to the Final game in New Jersey, which reportedly originally sold for $10,200AUD in presale, were being resold for between $36,800 to $87,700.
From that single top-tier ticket alone, FIFA would make $26,300.
"Tickets to the World Cup are expensive already, but when you add on the margins from resales that will be resold again and again, not by fans, but by people who want to make money, it is out of control. It has become the wild west – who knows how bad it is going to get?" Rowe says.
FIFA responds
FIFA told the New York Times that their reselling fees were in line with industry trends.
"The fact that secondary market activity is legal in certain markets renders it necessary to have a ticketing model that reflects our responsibility to provide secure access to fans, while at the same time ensuring as much value as possible is retained as the more income is generated via ticket sales, the more FIFA funds are invested back into football," it said.
Meg Elkins, senior lecturer in economics, finance and marketing at RMIT University says she doesn't put too much stock in the argument.
"They are basically saying 'if someone is going to scalp, it may as well be us'. It is an argument we hear a lot in the music industry. But that doesn't justify the mark-ups," she says.
"With the base price of tickets already double what Qatar (2022 World Cup) was and football being the biggest sport in the world, we could see tickets go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars," Elkins says.
Australians will miss out
Even before Australia qualified for the World Cup in June 2025, Sydney-based fan Attila was already planning ahead for the tournament.
"Football is the only sport I watched as a kid, that's how we were brought up in an ethnic family. Following the Socceroos wasn't a lot of joy in the 1980s and '90s, but that's turned around a fair bit now.".
He says with options for free accommodation in the USA with people he knows, this is his best shot at seeing the men's team play on the world stage.
"I'm prepared to drop a couple of grand for tickets for my wife and I, but there is a limit to what we can do," he says.
They all know the value of this tournament and are going to milk it for all that it's worth
Attila, passionate football fan
He describes FIFA's uncapped reselling of tickets as "outrageous".
"They all know the value of this tournament and are going to milk it for all that it's worth."
Patrick Clancy, chair of the Football Supporters Association Australia which advocates for fans of the game, says Australians may miss out on the opportunity due to costs.
"The cost will be a prohibitive factor for a lot of Australians. The cost of the tickets, the cost of travelling over there, there is the cost of visas now. Not to mention worrying about visas and what's on your social media accounts," he says.
Highlighting the importance of regulation
Both Rowe and Elkins agree that if FIFA has financial success with this new business model at the upcoming World Cup, it could likely become a template for future global sporting events as well as future World Cups.
"The sports world is heavily commercialised already, this is just another wave of commercialisation," Rowe says.
"It just shows the need for regulation," says Elkins, "If consumers push for fairer prices and greater access to sports and entertainment, governments and regulators will act. It certainly won't be coming from FIFA by themselves."
We're on your side
For more than 60 years, we've been making a difference for Australian consumers. In that time, we've never taken ads or sponsorship.
Instead we're funded by members who value expert reviews and independent product testing.
With no self-interest behind our advice, you don't just buy smarter, you get the answers that you need.
You know without hesitation what's safe for you and your family. And our recent sunscreens test showed just how important it is to keep business claims in check.
So you'll never be alone when something goes wrong or a business treats you unfairly.
Learn more about CHOICE membership today
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
