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

Without meaning to offend, I really hope you are not successful in getting tickets in the PMA section and I am disappointed that the ESTC has not found a way to filter opportunistic applications from tourist supporters like yourself.

Of course people should be welcome to the stadium for all over, but the England end should be designed for loyal fans and not content consumers. Trying to gatecrash with people who follow their country home and away for years just rubs me up the wrong way.

 

Super Bowl 60 tickets at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA going for $8,000 nosebleeds right now. The game is in 3 weeks! Welcome to America yall! World Cup final prices will not drop.

 

I.agree.with your sentiement. I dont see how he has any caps anyway. The England system (am not a member but know a lot of people who are) is quite fair in thst regard. And watching England in a WC match means nothing, whether you are a member or not. You have to do the hard yards in qualifiers and.friendlies.

 

Strong disagree. As long as he didn’t do anything untoward, and he’s going to support England, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t try for supporters tickets. He can be just as loud, care just as much, and cheer just as hard for England as others can. No need to denigrate him by saying he’s a “tourist fan”. He can care just as much as the next bloke.

 

Except he said that the US is his #1 team. Highly doubtful many, if any, in the English section have England as their second team.

 

I don’t have an issue with someone being in a supporter section. My main point is that I can’t see how he has any caps.

 

We already said he has zero caps and won’t be getting any tickets ahead of those who do. If the tickets are unclaimed by any other higher-capped England fan, who cares if he sits in the section?

At least England has a robust and fair allocation system. The US section tickets at the World Cup are given to whoever pays the most, whether they went to 50 or 0 games in the last four years an no matter who their number one team is. And it’ll be 10x worse for this home World Cup.

 

do not believe everything people write here

apart from that, some associations have great ticket allocation/cap system, some have an awful ones and some simply do not care. FA is one of the best.

 

If a game is under-subscribed I don't see the problem, particularly if the purchaser plans to support England. Different if they were planning to support the opposition but not sure how you'd control it. We have several members of the ESTC that aren't English or live in England.

Either he gets the ticket or it goes back to FIFA. At least this way the ESTC has had his membership money!

 

Hats off to anyone who’s sitting with the England fans and supporting the other team.

I would think that especially for this World Cup we might see more neutrals in the FA ticket areas. In addition to being not being able to go last minute and thus forced to sell their tickets, I think some will simply be tempted by the potential profits. Imagine you get a ticket for England through the FA and then they play Argentina or Columbia and you realize you can make 3x or 4x what you paid by selling it fully legally on the FIFA platform?! There’s no way this won’t tempt a few people…

edit: and I only use England as an example here, think this applies to each country… crazy prices drive crazy behavior.

2nd edit: and god forbid they make the $60 tickets transferable. Imagine someone offers you $5K for a $60 final ticket… Who wouldn’t at least think about it?!

 

Yes, if the demand was high it wouldn't be possible. Given the circumstances there is no problem. Those that have been to qualifying matches are at the front of the queue whilst those that have not are at the back. The ESTC should change their rules so that no-one without caps is eligible for the ballot unless everyone with caps is guaranteed a ticket. The rules were implemented before the unpopular world cup locations of Russia and Qatar and now the extremely expensive USA.

Someone that has an affiliation with England getting a ticket is better than it going back to FIFA. That will be the case for some of the knockout matches, should we progress as we hope we do. If England were to reach the quarter finals onwards there will be plenty of seats being resold by FIFA. Better that someone who had the nouse to apply through the ESTC get a ticket.

 

If someone really wants to sell a $60 ticket for $5k+ they will find a way to do so. Even if it means buying a burner phone and selling that with the ticket.

 

Not true at all. Someone could register for 700 free accounts and have 100x more entries than me as a $1000 level supporter with over 100 caps and membership since 2009

If someone wanted to spend a little money they could buy 8 $45 memberships and still have more chances than me

The USA method makes no sense, doesn't reward big spenders or longtime fans

 

Final cat 4 tickets back in 2022 were 250 usd I think? Or somewhere around that, and they were reselling for 4-5k game day

 

Quoting you again, can you send me the correct group?

 

Cat 4 weren’t widely available on resale. Most of what I saw was Cat 3, which was around $2500 throughout the tournament and game day. I had friends looking for tickets, so we were following it closely. The face value for Cat 3 was something like $650.

In any case, all of those prices sound downright quaint compared to what we’re dealing with this year.

 

I fully agree with this.

 

I dont.see that happening. The kind of person who has lots of caps is dedicated going to the matches. What would be the point of going to Moldova on a Thursday night (and incurring that cost) to make a few hundred pounds on a finals ticket?
What could well happen.is the tickets.just go back to.FIFA and find their way to other supporters that way. And lets face it, trouble in grounds rarely happens in the WC. I have been to 5 finals and not seen any.

 

Okay, maybe England was a bad example then. I had thought about it in the context of the German FA. They allocate (only) 60% of tickets based on bonus points (ie similar to the caps for English fans) but the other 40% go through a lottery, for which you could have still joined up until 8 Jan. So it’s theoretically possible that 40% of the German FA tickets could go to people who’ve not once been to a Germany game… that’s the people I thought of who may be tempted by selling their final tickets. But to be fair, the $60 tickets are not available through the lottery, they only go to the people with the highest bonus points. So you may be right and the risk is quite low for those to be sold for profit, but the normal FA tickets I think are at risk, at least for Germany.

 

The final? Probably not. For the other 101 games? Probably for most of them. Am I certain of what is going to happen to ticket prices for any particular game or section? No.

 

To be fair, my comment was more that I understand why the other poster would not be pleased by that. Also, I am not someone who signs up with random other FA's to try to get tickets as I think those should just be for the actual supporters who have gone to non-major tournament matches previously. Nothing against anyone who does, but that's just my own thing.

 

I never said I had zero caps, but since "we already said" it, it must be true.

I indeed have caps that which qualify, but I'm leaving it there and moving on.

Amazing how people assume things in here and everywhere. Now I know how it feels when people make things up in the news media and propagate it. LOL.

I look forward to attending my 5th straight World Cup and urge others to have fun as well.

 

My mistake on that! All the more true then - if you’ve got the caps, you deserve the tickets. England plays it fair with their supporters.

 

Saw that the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (“FIFA PASS”) portal is open to expedite the review of your visitor visa request.

"FIFA PASS Consent Declaration
This consent declaration applies to ticket holders who require a United States (U.S.) visa and wish to participate in the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (FIFA PASS). The purpose of this process is to facilitate scheduling of visa appointments for FIFA World Cup 2026™ match ticket holders, in coordination with the U.S. Department of State.

This process assists eligible travelers in obtaining expedited appointments, where available. It does not replace standard U.S. visa application procedures and does not guarantee visa issuance. All decisions regarding visa appointments and visa issuance are made solely by DOS.

By providing consent, you authorize FWC2026 US, Inc, to collect and disclose specific personal information, including your full name, date of birth, passport number and nationality, and ticket reference, to the Department of State for the sole purpose of facilitating prioritized visa interview appointment scheduling. Please note that once your information is submitted for this purpose, the consent cannot be withdrawn, and the information will be processed as submitted in accordance with applicable U.S. laws.

Participation is voluntary. If you do not consent, FWC2026 US, Inc. will not share your personal information with the Department of State for purposes of FIFA PASS, your data will not be shared, and you may proceed independently through the standard visa interview scheduling process. FWC 2026 US, Inc. does not influence, participate in, or guarantee any decision made by the Department of State regarding visa issuance."

 

Previous World Cups had a "Face Value" ticket sale thread, so I started one after some discussion in this thread: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/official-ticket-thread-face-value-or-what-you-paid.2137672/

Please let me know if you have any comments and I'm happy to edit the first post.