Many vacant seats at the South Korea-Czech Republic World Cup match

Concerns Over World Cup Attendance in Mexico

At first glance, the situation isn’t ideal for FIFA.

During Thursday’s World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in Guadalajara, Mexico, many seats remained unoccupied. The concern was largely over high ticket prices.

Still, FIFA claimed there was a near-capacity crowd of 44,985 attendees. However, empty sections were particularly noticeable in the VIP areas and in parts of the stadium not visible from the main camera.

Even though it seems almost all tickets were sold, it’s likely that many purchasers couldn’t attend or resell them.

The cost of tickets for those empty sections ranged from $400 for general admission to as much as $5,000 for luxury corporate packages, which has discouraged many fans from buying tickets, reflecting a growing trend.

On another note, FIFA has slowly begun reducing prices across all 104 matches, managing to free up about 70% of the hotel bookings aimed at increasing attendance. Yet, that effort hasn’t seemed sufficient.

The night before the tournament, around 180,000 tickets were still available on official resale platforms. Moreover, FIFA’s own website was still listing about 15,000 group stage tickets.

Around 4,400 tickets were unsold through official channels as of Friday morning, particularly for that day’s U.S. opener against Paraguay, with the cheapest ticket priced at $1,120.

For the upcoming England vs. Croatia match, tickets starting around $867 were also still available, going up to an astonishing $9,225 for a package including a meal and VIP lounge access.

When comparing this year to 2022, it’s striking how a ticket for the 2026 World Cup final in the U.S. is about ten times the price of one for the championship game held in Qatar.

This pricing crisis originates from FIFA’s introduction of variable pricing, which is a departure from the usual dynamic pricing model used in previous tournaments.

A significant 90 out of 104 matches saw a price increase of 34% from October 2025 to April 2026.

Despite these issues, FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the ticket prices, asserting that a considerable amount of analysis went into setting them.

He also pointed out that demand for the World Cup remains high.

“We want to bring the World Cup to every soccer fan. That’s why the pricing structure is designed this way,” Infantino mentioned. He added that last year’s Club World Cup saw fluctuating prices, implying that this current structure is somewhat justified.