A World Cup final ticket is being sold for £8.5 million, even though it’s one of the worst seats in the stadium!
A ticket for the 2026 World Cup final is being sold for an eye-popping £8.5 million, even though it doesn’t come with any extra perks. The final, which will be the first with 48 teams, is set for July 19 at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This stadium holds over 82,000 fans, and while we don’t yet know who will be playing, this final is sure to be the hottest event around.
There’s been a lot of talk about the very high ticket prices for the World Cup in North America. Tickets went on sale through a lottery and got more than 500 million requests, according to FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Some prices were lowered after fans complained, making them more affordable. However, the most expensive ticket for the final still costs $11,000 (£8,091), which is much higher than the $1,600 (£1,176) top price from the 2022 final.
Surprisingly, Sky Sports reported that on the resale market, one ticket is listed for a jaw-dropping $11.5 million (£8.5 million), even though it’s just a regular seat in block 307, row 22, seat 12—not even close to the pitch. While any ticket to a World Cup final is special, paying £8.5 million is definitely over the top. The website ‘A View From My Seat’ shared a photo from an NFL game to show just how far that price goes.
Infantino joked about the expensive tickets after four final seats behind the goal were priced at $2.3 million (£1.693 million). He said he’d “personally bring a hot dog and a Coke” for anyone paying that much! Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, he explained that ticket prices reflect the market, especially since entertainment prices in the US are very high. He added that if tickets were sold too cheap, they would just be resold for much more.
Infantino also said that just because some tickets are listed on resale sites for millions, it doesn’t mean that’s the real price or that someone will actually buy them. FIFA doesn’t control resale prices, but according to The Guardian, they do take a 15% fee from both the buyer and seller on these tickets.