The FIFA World Cup trophy is displayed during the official draw ceremony held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 5, 2025.
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FIFA is once again raising prices for a substantial number of games in the upcoming World Cup tournament that will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico in June and July.
The price increases took place in FIFA’s latest sales window that kicked off on Wednesday, with 40 out of 104 games now costing more than in the last sales window, according to an NPR examination of prices.
The hikes can be stark. The most expensive “Category 1” tickets for the final will now cost $10,990, a broad area that covers most of the lower two bowls of MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where the last game of the tournament will be held in July.
That’s significantly more than the nearly $8,700 at which these tickets were priced in FIFA’s previous sales window earlier this year — and much higher than the $6,370 at which they were priced when sales kicked off last year.
The increases come even after FIFA has faced heavy criticism about the record prices being charged and its adoption of dynamic pricing for the first time. A group representing European fans and consumers called FIFA’s prices “exorbitant” and filed a formal complaint this month with the European Commission in a bid to get the soccer body to lower prices.
Meanwhile, a group of Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to FIFA accusing the organization of “price gouging at the expense of the people who make the World Cup the most-watched sporting event in the world.”
FIFA has not replied to NPR’s queries. But previously FIFA has justified its prices citing strong demand for tickets as well as noting it’s adapting its pricing to the North American market. FIFA has also repeatedly said it’s a non-profit that steers the vast majority of revenue from the World Cup to grow soccer around the world.
Price increases cover a wide range of games
Most of the price increases in the initial stage of the tournament were for teams that tend to draw more fans such as Brazil, Argentina, England and Germany — as well as co-host Mexico.
Although price hikes tended to be of less than $100, they still mark a substantial escalation from the initial prices at which FIFA started selling those tickets. Some increases were quite big though. Mexico’s opening game against Saudi Arabia now costs as much as $2,985, up from $2,355 in FIFA’s last sales window and up from its initial price of $1,825.
Most of the knockout games also increased in price, including the one being held in Philadelphia on July 4th — and the hikes tend to get more substantial for match-ups later in the tournament.
For example, the two semi-finals of the tournament also saw hefty price hikes. The game that will be held in Dallas in July will now cost as much as $3,710, up substantially from $3,295 in the last sales window.
The current sales window will last all the way through the tournament. FIFA has not said how many tickets are left to sell, only that it will continue to drop tickets periodically, including potentially for games that appear to be sold out.
