FIFA struggling to sell tickets for USMNT’s World Cup opener vs. Paraguay

Ticket gross sales for the United States’ high-priced World Cup opener are lagging behind different matches in Los Angeles, in accordance to a doc distributed to native organizers and a wide range of different indicators.

The doc, dated April 10 and shared with hosts to guarantee sufficient planning, listed 40,934 tickets bought for that June 12 match between the US and Paraguay, in contrast with 50,661 for the Iran-New Zealand match three days later on the similar venue, SoFi Stadium.

FIFA lists the stadium’s capability at 69,650 for the 2026 World Cup. The doc, although, doesn’t essentially counsel that there are tens of hundreds of seats nonetheless out there, as a result of it is unclear if the numbers embrace hospitality and different kinds of tickets that weren’t bought to most of the people.

FIFA, when requested to make clear on Saturday and once more on Monday, declined to present that context. (The Los Angeles host committee additionally declined to remark.)

A FIFA spokesperson, responding after publication Tuesday, mentioned in an emailed assertion that “ticket sales for the FIFA World Cup remain strong with a high degree of interest for all matches, including the ones you have highlighted.” The spokesperson argued that the doc “does not accurately reflect current sales to date” (TheAthletic‘s report cites ticket information as of April 10), and mentioned “it would be misleading and irresponsible to publish such figures as fact,” however didn’t say why or how the numbers have been inaccurate reflections or deceptive.

The doc appears to verify a rising physique of proof that the US opener has not been promoting in addition to anticipated. When FIFA first put tickets on sale in October, it priced that June 12 match as the third-most expensive of the entire World Cupbehind solely the ultimate and one semifinal. But Category 1 and Category 2 tickets — priced at $2,730 and $1,940 — have remained out there all through subsequent gross sales phases, a transparent indication that followers have been deterred by the value tag.

For most different video games, alternatively, followers have wolfed up out there tickets. Sensing “unprecedented” demand, FIFA has raised prices for a majority of matches, often by hundreds of dollars.

But FIFA has stored costs frozen at $2,730, $1,940 and $1,120 in its three fundamental classes for US-Paraguay. It’s the one match that includes a co-host — the US, Canada or Mexico — that has not seen costs hiked over the previous six months. (The Category 1 value for Mexico’s opener in opposition to South Africa, in contrast, has jumped progressively from $1,825 in October to $2,985 presently.)

And at these costs, tickets to US-Paraguay have been promoting slowly. Thousands have been listed on FIFA’s ticketing website ever since the so-called “Last-Minute Sales Phase” began April 1. On April 9, when TheAthletic began monitoring availability each day, there have been 2,529 out there on a first-come, first-served foundation. Ten days later, on April 19, there have been 2,232.

In different phrases, it appears that evidently tickets to that match — billed because the glitzy curtain-raiser for the American portion of the event — are promoting at a tempo of some dozen per day. (A handful of tickets have been apparently added over that 10-day interval, so maybe greater than 300 have been bought, however for essentially the most half, section-by-section stock remained static.)

The doc distributed to Los Angeles officers, in the meantime, means that many greater than 2,232 tickets are nonetheless unsold.

For most or all World Cup matches, FIFA seems to be holding again tickets, creating an phantasm of shortage. FIFA president Gianni Infantino mentioned final week that his group has “sold around 5 million” of the roughly 6.7 million anticipated to be out there. “We could have” bought all tickets, Infantino added, however “we want to keep a few for continuous sale until the start of the tournament to give opportunities to latecomers.”

On Sunday, solely 9 matches on the ticketing portal confirmed greater than 100 tickets out there, despite the fact that lots of the different 95 matches haven’t but bought out. FIFA’s expectation, presumably, is that will probably be ready to sell most or all of these tickets over the ultimate two months earlier than kickoff, with a rush of gross sales each time new batches are made out there.

Those 9 video games with important and protracted availability are maybe the exceptions, and seemingly those for which demand has not materialized, at the very least at present costs.

Unsurprisingly, they embrace seven matches that includes principally low-profile groups — three between Austria, Jordan and Algeria; New Zealand vs. Egypt; Uzbekistan vs. the Democratic Republic of Congo; and Saudi Arabia’s video games in opposition to Cape Verde and Uruguay.

But the opposite two are the Canada and US openers.

The gross sales information shared with Los Angeles organizers advised that, as of April 10, the opposite US match at SoFi Stadium was additionally lagging. It listed fewer than 40,000 tickets bought for that match — which will be against Turkey after the Turks received a European playoff late final month — in contrast to round 47,000 for Switzerland vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina, and over 50,000 for each of Iran’s matches in LA (in opposition to New Zealand and Belgium).

But the present lack of availability for the US-Turkey match, coupled with earlier value hikes — a Category 1 ticket to that recreation initially price $805; it now prices $990 — and the truth that Turkey solely simply certified, probably means that FIFA is not anxious about it.

The opener, quite the opposite, was the topic of a focused gross sales push final week. US Soccer supporters group members obtained an e mail promoting an “additional opportunity” to “access a limited number of tickets for the US men’s national team’s opening match.” They have been provided tickets in any of the three fundamental classes, however on the similar costs freely out there on FIFA’s web site plus a ten % “processing fee.”

SoFi Stadium outdoors LA will host two of the USMNT’s group matches on the 2026 World Cup (Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images)

Meanwhile, earlier patrons at the moment are itemizing tickets to that US opener on resale websites for below face worth. There are over 4,000 tickets listed on FIFA’s personal resale platform, and as of Sunday, at the very least 19 sections confirmed costs decrease than the primary-market value. There have been additionally 377 listings on StubHub, 10 of which have been providing tickets at under face worth, even after taxes and costs have been added.

Those secondary-market tendencies and the gradual major gross sales may compel FIFA to decrease costs because the opener nears, because it did for many Club World Cup games last summer. As that unproven event approached, FIFA walked again its initially excessive costs, however not sufficiently or quickly sufficient to keep away from hundreds of empty seats at most matches.

Some of the starkest Club World Cup examples — $13 tickets to a semi-final, for instance, or a five-for-$20 deal on the eve of the event — have given followers hope that FIFA will do equally for some 2026 World Cup video games. But the worldwide soccer governing physique has held agency to this point. It has continuously trumpeted overwhelming demandtogether with 508 million ticket requests in a winter lottery part, although industry experts assume that those requests were heavily skewed towards well-liked matches and cheaper classes. (Infantino said in February that FIFA obtained greater than 1 million ticket requests for 77 of the 104 matches.)

The comparatively gradual gross sales for US-Paraguay are probably a product of FIFA’s pricing, but additionally maybe a misjudgment of the USMNT’s recognition. The crew you have struggled to attract strong home crowds to a wide range of stadiums throughout America through the 2026 World Cup cycle and beforehand, with US followers sometimes outnumbered by supporters of the opponent.

In Southern California, particularly, the USMNT has hardly performed in entrance of a partisan crowd. When it confronted Panama and Canada at SoFi Stadium in Concacaf Nations League doubleheaders in March 2025, the overwhelming majority of seats have been empty at kickoff, with most ticket patrons seemingly extra within the Mexico match later that night.

At different video games because the flip of the century, stadiums in larger LA have been crammed by followers from different international locations all through the Americas and additional afield. The area is residence to dozens of vibrant diaspora communities, together with a whole lot of hundreds of Iranian Americans. Decades in the past, they coined the nickname “Tehrangeles” (a play on “Los Angeles” and the title of Iran’s capital, Tehran).

That could assist clarify why Iran’s two matches at SoFi have apparently bought higher than the US matches, per the doc shared with native organizers.

The information is damaged out into “local,” non-local “domestic” and “international” ticket patrons. For the US-Paraguay match, solely 8,487 of the practically 41,000 patrons as of April 10 have been “local,” in contrast to 17,080 — greater than twice as many — for Iran-New Zealand on June 15.

Still, the overriding issue appears to be pricing. FIFA has bought the Iran-New Zealand tickets for $450, $380 and $140 in its three fundamental classes. USMNT followers have been compelled to pay greater than six occasions as a lot, and lots of have instructed TheAthletic that, due to the price, they’ve as a substitute targeted on discovering a ticket to the June 19 match in opposition to Australia in Seattle.

The remaining tickets, for these LA video games and others, will probably be made out there over the approaching weeks and months, with some doubtlessly launched as quickly as this week.