Fiasco in the sale of tickets for the World Cup » The blunder made by FIFA “locked out” the fans
Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Wednesday, 01 April 2026 22:40 / Updated on Wednesday, 01 April 2026 22:41
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) on Wednesday launched the fourth and final phase of ticket sales for this year's World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, which will take place from June 11 to July 19. And there were no shortage of technical problems, the process being carried out with difficulty.
In the so-called “last-minute” sale, FIFA made more than three million tickets available on its official website.
Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and will be available until July 19, i.e. until the end of the championship, FIFA said in a press release.
The sales launch was not without technical problems. Some fans who accessed the link on FIFA's website were redirected to ticket sales for the intercontinental tie, which ended on Wednesday morning. Others had to wait a long time to buy a ticket, according to sport.aktuality.sk.
Tickets for the World Cup, purchased with problems
Other fans interested in buying tickets for the World Cup were redirected to a “waiting” page, where they “queued” for as long as 90 minutes. FIFA said around midday that the links were working properly and that problems along the way had been fixed. The federation also announced that tickets for other matches will be released gradually.
In previous phases, more than one million tickets were sold, with more than 500 million requests. According to the capacity of the sixteen stadiums where the tournament will be played, approximately seven million tickets should be sold in total, the AFP agency said.
2026 World Cup groups
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Group A: Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Czech Republic
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Group B: Canada, Bosnia, Qatar, Switzerland
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Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Haiti, Scotland
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Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey
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Group E: Germany, Curacao, Ivory Coast, Ecuador
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Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia
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Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
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Group H: Spain, Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
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Group I: France, Iraq, Senegal, Norway
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Group J: Argentina, Algeria, Austria, Jordan
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Group K: Portugal, DR Congo, Uzbekistan, Colombia
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Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
