FIFA has cancelled World Cup 2026 tickets that were mistakenly issued to around 60 fans after a technical error on its ticketing platform allowed them to complete purchases without making payment. The issue occurred during checkout, when a glitch reportedly prevented the payment from being processed while still generating valid ticket confirmations.
As a result, a small group of supporters received tickets free of charge and believed their bookings had been successfully completed. However, FIFA later identified the error during an internal review and moved to void the affected tickets, informing the fans that the transactions had not been properly finalised.
The governing body clarified that the tickets were issued due to a system malfunction rather than a legitimate sale and that the affected supporters would need to go through the regular ticket-purchasing process if they still wished to attend the tournament. While the number of affected fans is relatively small, the incident has generated significant attention, given the high demand for World Cup tickets. FIFA is understood to have taken corrective measures to prevent similar technical issues from occurring during future phases of ticket sales.
“FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused,” FIFA said. “The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount.”
Tickets are still being sold by FIFA for games at the World Cup, which opens next Thursday in Mexico City. It is unclear if seats for games in less demand will drop in price under FIFA’s surge pricing model, which has been controversial for fans.
FIFA is also operating its own resale platform – and taking 15% commission from both buyers and sellers – in order to cut out ticket dealers from the market. However, sales platforms such as Seat Geek were offering widespread availability on Friday for many games.
World Cup tickets expensive this time
Tickets for the 2026 World Cup are wildly more expensive than any previous edition, which FIFA has justified as helping earn billions of dollars it will give to member federations for developing the game globally.
FIFA took control of pricing and selling tickets as part of bringing World Cup operations in-house. The long-time model at previous editions was working with host nations’ local organising committees.
When the soccer federations of the United States, Canada and Mexico won hosting rights in 2018, they promised to sell hundreds of thousands of tickets at $21 each for group-stage games.
