The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off Friday, and the U.S. and Canada opening matches still haven’t sold out — a detail that would have seemed unthinkable when the tournament was awarded to North America years ago.
Tickets still on the market
Hundreds of tickets remained available for both the U.S. and Canada opening matches as of Sunday, June 8, according to NPR. Resale platforms are carrying even more inventory — and a significant chunk of those secondary-market seats are listed at below face value.
That’s a soft signal heading into what’s been billed as the most commercially ambitious World Cup in the tournament’s history. Below-face-value resale prices typically mean supply is outpacing demand close to game day.
NPR didn’t specify which stadiums are hosting Friday’s matches, how many total seats those venues hold, or what the face-value ticket prices are — so the scale of the shortfall is hard to pin down precisely. What’s clear is that unsold inventory exists at multiple price points, including on the primary market, with fewer than a week to go.
Whether sales pick up sharply in the final days before kickoff is an open question. Last-minute ticket surges are common for major sporting events, but the below-face-value resale pricing makes a dramatic sellout scramble look less certain right now.
Reported by NPR. Read the original report.
