Trump called the 2026 World Cup history’s ‘most successful.’ Problems cloud ticket sales

Grab your jersey and your pals: World Cup fever is here.

Red cards may have taken a starring role at the 2026 tournament’s June 11 opener between Mexico and South Africa, but little could dampen soccer enthusiasts’ anticipation of watching the globe’s greatest male footballers take the field for their countries over the next five weeks.

Even before Shakira shook her hips and beckoned fans and players to "Dai Dai" ("Come on, come on"), as the official World Cup song’s Italian lyric goes, President Donald Trump touted the event with his trademark superlatives.

"Most successful World Cup they've ever had," Trump said June 10 at the White House. "They've never sold tickets at that level. They've never sold that many tickets so quickly."

He made a similar statement May 27, calling it "the most successful they've ever had ticket-wise. They've never had anything that sold so quickly."

There’s no question the 2026 World Cup has drawn excitement. Its programming is the most expansive in tournament history, with 48 teams scheduled to play 104 games in 16 cities across Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Fans are also geared up to watch what could be the last cup for soccer icons Lionel Messi of Argentina, Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Neymar Jr. of Brazil. 

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that as of June 10, the event had sold over 6 million tickets — showing "unprecedented" demand.

"Not unprecedented by a little bit, but unprecedented by a factor of 10 or more," Infantino said.

In terms of raw numbers, that seems to be right: FIFA reported it sold 3.2 million tickets in 2022; 2.8 million in 2018; and 3.1 million in 2014. NPR reported the 1994 World Cup, also hosted in the U.S., set the standing attendance record at 3.5 million, with game after game filled to capacity. 

The raw number conceals other realities about this year’s tournament sales.

Many of the 2026 World Cup matches were not sold out as of June 12 — and the existing ticket sales have unfolded amid pricing controversies. 

Ed Farnsworth, communications director for the Society for American Soccer History, told PolitiFact 2026 ticket sales are breaking records largely because the tournament includes more teams and games than ever before. Until now, the number of teams playing in the World Cup maxed out at 32 and the highest number of matches was 64 — about 40% fewer games than the U.S., Mexico and Canada plan to host this summer. 

Leander Schaerlaeckens, soccer columnist at The Guardian and senior professional sports communication lecturer at Maris University, said the tournament’s growth is so significant that comparing ticket sales from one World Cup to another amounts to false equivalency.

"There are far more games and therefore tickets to be sold," he said.

There’s also some uncertainty about how quickly organizers are selling the tickets, and how well-attended individual matches will be. FIFA’s ticket sales data lacks some transparency.

Infantino said in February that tickets for "every match are already sold out," but FIFA held back some tickets for last minute sales. In April, Infantino said FIFA had held back tickets for later sale but that "around 5 million" had been sold.

Soccer fans have complained that the 2026 tournament’s three-round general ticketing process has squeezed out people without means to shell out hundreds — or even hundreds of thousands — of dollars.

In the 2022 World Cup, initial ticket prices ranged from $70 to $1,600, ESPN reported.

In 2026, FIFA had set its least expensive tickets at $60, but as of June 1, the cheapest opening round tickets available on FIFA’s official marketplace site, where fans can resell, buy and exchange tickets, were listed from $242 to $960. 

In October, initial ticket prices available for select fans were the highest in World Cup history by far, The Athletic found. 

For the first time, FIFA officially started using dynamic pricing for its official World Cup ticket sales. That means that prices increase when demand increases and drop when demand slows.

Farnsworth called the pricing "absolutely unique to the U.S. and this World Cup" and said that the amount of lower-cost tickets was "insultingly small."

Consumers and lawmakers have registered their outrage by filing formal complaints and launching investigations.

In the UK, Football Supporters Europe, a nonprofit that represents European soccer fans, lodged a complaint, accusing FIFA of excluding ordinary fans with its ticket pricing. It also said the $60 tickets FIFA advertised were so scarce that they sold out before general public sales opened.

In the U.S., attorneys general in California, New York, New Jersey and Texas opened investigations or raised concerns about FIFA’s ticket pricing tactics. 

Infantino has defended ticket prices. We reached out to FIFA asking about the prices, but we didn’t receive a response. 

With thousands of tickets unsold, we checked FIFA’s ticket sales site and its resale marketplace for today’s prices.

Same-day tickets for the June 12 United States vs. Paraguay match in Los Angeles Stadium were priced as low as $1,940 and as high as $2,735 in FIFA’s last-minute sales phase, nine hours before the game. On FIFA Marketplace, prices ranged from $742 to more than $13,000.

PolitiFact Staff Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.