Going to North America '26: tickets, accommodations, etc. (non-politics)

Federation tickets are still purchased through FIFA, so they will have the email address.

Where is that parking? There are large parking lots immediately around the stadium but other than that it looks like the airport. What public transport options are there? It would appear to be madness to close the stadium parking. Is the surrounding area safe for visitors to walk around? Bit of a culture shock looking around the map that there is a small airport named Hawthorne in a residential area.

 

Could be, AI keep saying france england if we assume top seeded teams win

 

https://www.metro.net/riding/sofi-stadium/

What other arrangements they may have for the WC who knows just yet? I just caught the 117 bus from the hotels near to LAX and back last time I went to an afternoon Rams game. It felt perfectly safe around the area to me on a Sunday afternoon.

 

My brother let's make those Margaritas happen! I owe @HugoSanchez some stadium beers on that game as well

 

I'd *LIKE* to imagine that there will be public transport, ubers and/or shuttles to the stadiums right? I imagine it must be one of the requirements FIFA makes to be a host city, right!?!

 

Yep, it's a safe area around there. Not fancy by any means but not dangerous. Just busy commercial area but nothing exciting. Limited public transport (train and bus options aren't too far away), but just use Uber, go explore the casino, COSM (would be pretty amazing place to watch a game btw), The Meeting Spot is small but good location. There will be street vendors selling hotdogs and beers.

They'll have the dedicated Uber drop/pickup area or walk a few blocks and get a dedicated one.

 

Depends on the city of course. But Uber/Lyft (get both apps) are everywhere. The stadiums have a fairly organized pickup/dropoff setup. Lines will be long after the games for sure.

I would guess most cities will announce some dedicated buses but havent seen any news yet. Every city has basic bus routes (and/or train) but its pretty limited in their reach and most dont go directly to the stadium but they can get you close enough to walk a bit.

 

This is just insane… so if you get two tickets to the final through the FA lottery, FIFA will collect almost $8.5K from you, then sit on it for half a year making insane profits on interest, and then (if your team doesn’t make it this far) give it back to you minus a fee (which we don’t know yet how much it is…). This shouldn’t be legal!!!

 

The most recent info released by CanadaRed can be found in the December 3rd press release, which is fairly thorough: https://canadasoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-FIFA-World-Cup-FAQ.pdf

CanadaRed confirmed that it has nearly 143,000 members, with approximately $2 million raised from membership fees. I plugged some info into chatgpt to get a rough guess of the chances of winning PMA tickets from the lottery for different membership tiers. The results are a bit grim as it would appear that decent chances to win tickets begin at a $1000 donation tier. At that level one might as well purchase tickets directly from the secondary market.

Starter (Free, 116,000): ~0.20% chance
Community ($50, 16,000): ~1.43% chance
Squad ($150, 6,000): ~3.81% chance
Premier ($500, 2,000): ~11.43% chance
Champion ($1000, 500): ~45.71% chance
Legend ($2500, 80): 100% (cap)
Icon ($5000, 20): 100% (cap)

 

There will definitely be ways to get there that don't involve driving yourself for every venue in the United States. It really depends on how much tolerance you will have in terms of transportation. I made the decision early on that I only wanted to go to venues where I could easily walk or take a train to the stadium. Using the last Euros as an example, I wanted a Cologne or Dusseldorf transportation experience than a Gelsenkirchen one.

 

Looks like you will need to input a credit card when applying for tickets this stage and if you are successful, automatically charged. I never expected any matches to go down, but no group stage going up is at least something.

My guess is any applicant for Jordan vs Algeria and the likes is going to be successful at the current price. There are people who will pay that price regardless.

 

Still nothing on price which is the big question. I don't know how many people are going to be paying for CanadaRED and then want to pay an extra $3K per ticket for Cat 1 supporter seats that will likely be worth half that if Italy doesn't qualify.

 

Yeah I'm trying to avoid the US as much as possible for this WC, I just have M79 which imo will be Mexico vs Canada in LA. Only trying for M100 in kansas which is probably the least walking friendly place this WC but I have family there so they could pick up / drop off

 

KC is going to have special shuttle buses running from downtown locations to the stadium. That one was already announced.

 

The dashed line is a shuttle bus that the LA Metro system runs for NFL games. The Downtown Inglewood station is approximately a one mile walk from the stadium.

 

What is the best strategy for this next ticket phase? Apply to every single game one could possibly be interested in, see which one(s) one gets, see which one(s) can one afford to go to, and then resell the remaining ones?

(I know resell triggers all sorts of ethical considerations. Given the nature of this phase I don't know whether it can be avoided. We can only hope folks will resell at face value off platform, or at a reasonable markup on the exchange marketplace and/or on places like Stubhub. On these platforms, markup is inevitable, because you need it to just be able to pay back the amount you paid on the ticket).

 

I have a prioritized list of games I'd like to attend. For my ballot, I'll start at the top and work my way down until I reach the max amount I'm willing to spend. If I get everything, great. If not, I'll try to make up for whatever I don't get in the last minute phase.

I don't know if this is the "optimal" strategy per se, but it feels right for me.

 

I firmly believe the best strategy is to apply for all Cat 1 for any desirable matchup in the Group Stage and let the chips fall as need be. I know not everyone has the budget to do that, but I think that is the best way to get tickets. Trying for Cat 3 for Portugal-Colombia as an example just feels like a way to guarantee disappointment. I don't normally do this, but I would set up multiple accounts with different matches with that strategy so one credit card doesn't take a big hit and you can spread it out a bit.

If you are looking for matches like Qatar-Switzerland, maybe you can get those done with Cat 2 and Cat 3. It probably depends on what you are looking for on what the best strategy is.

 

Maybe I'm just El cheapo, however accommodation is still ridiculous in most places for me! Trying to find somewhere close to airports or public transit is such a handful

Anyone feeling the same?

 

What cities are you looking at?

 

I see, that makes a lot of sense. POR-COL is probably the one game where this will be the most important. I will think about it.

I might take that approach with games like that one, maybe a couple of others, and then see what happens. Maybe I'll end up with tickets to resell, maybe I won't, we'll see I guess.

 

Which cities and prices are you seeing?

 

Did anyone here grab New Jersey (Metlife) VSTs? Such a good group of opening matches:

• Brazil v Morocco | Group C | Saturday, 13 June
• France v Senegal | Group I | Tuesday, 16 June
• Norway v Senegal | Group I | Monday, 22 June
• Ecuador v Germany | Group E | Thursday, 25 June
• Panama v England | Group L | Saturday, 27 June

 

Yup! I’m based in Europe and realized today that if you have two games four or five days apart, depending on hotel and flight prices, it may actually be the cheaper option to fly back home in between!!! Rather pay $500-700 for another return flight than $1,200-1,500 for hotels. Just something to think about and check prices for when planning the trip.

 

That is completely and totally nuts. Are we talking about the US only or also in Canada and Mexico?