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

With money, that is not a problem for me, I had 4 years to prepare.

 

resale marketplace is open again

 

I was able to get 4 Cat1 UZB - COL in RSD

 

No email yet but my application following the link above says unsuccessful. Every game I applied for says “lost”.

I can’t believe I can’t get one ticket for Uruguay - Saudi Arabia or Uruguay - Cape Verde.

 

Just received my first general application rejection letter.

 

I haven't received a rejection email yet but checking my apps and asking my friends too, everything shows "Unsuccessful" on the My Application page. I got just one lousy match on my USA PMA. Luckily, I did well on the previous rounds and my WC is more or less set with the exception of one match that I thought would be "easy" this round because so many of my buddies also applied for me. But I didn't even get that.

I'm in a few groups where we help each other and in past WCs we've been super successful. Overwhelmingly we're getting shut out this round in the general FIFA lottery (many PMA successes) even though we have a lot of members who know what they're doing with applications. We did OK in the first 2 rounds so we have a lot of tickets, but the overwhelming lack of hits in the main FIFA Random Draw leads me to one conclusion. Demand is incredibly high. Tickets are more scarce that I imagined.

Just yesterday I saw posts about how this WC is going to be lightly attended because of the prices, one guy posted "25% full stadiums". Still people saying the prices will crash. I just don't see it happening after this.

Is it a nefarious FIFA plot where they are still holding a lot of tickets to drive demand up and spreading panic with all the Unsuccessfuls apps? That would be clever! Or is the demand really sky high and way outpacing supply?

 

I got 4 for France v Playoff & Iran v NZ

I figured those would be less in demand of games I could make...and where I had a free place to stay. Hotels prices are more insane than tix imo... everyone is yelling at FIFA but Hilton/Marriott/etc are getting no hate for their price gouging

 

I did apply for higher demand games and for sure that's a big part of my lack of success. But the groups I'm in have a lot of seasoned guys and the story is the same: Unsuccessful

 

so you think at some point there's going to be a lot of tickets available and prices are going to plummet? That the demand is all fake?

I don't think so. I think the demand is real.

I think those 20 or so "low demand" games might fall some, but not any of the other 80 matches including all the knockouts. I guess we'll see.

 

CONGRATS

We did around 45 applications using different credit cards and different internet connections (2 per device) and got zero
But I was lucky and got a couple of games in Mexico during the Visa presale (and Mexico will be my main destination).
May I ask how many tickets you requested per application?
I’m surprised I didn’t get a potential Round of 16 game for Brazil or England (weekday games and not even in the best cities).
I’m still missing those two games to complete my itinerary. We were also applying for other friends and cousins for some games in Toronto and New York.
But maybe we made a mistake by packing the applications with 40 tickets each?

 

In the same boat as others. Out of 11 matches I applied for, 0 results this round. Kind of sucks, being in my home country and all. But to be fair, I think I have more fun when the WC is away from home. Even Canada in 2015 was meh, compared to others I have been to. Best of luck to all, in FCFS, or on the freaking resale!

 

I managed to get my first tickets. Brazil vs Morocco wasn’t successful, even though I tried for Category 1. But I did get two Category 2 tickets for Scotland vs Morocco.

 

You know you are lucky right? I think both of these 2 games are cheaper on the resale website. You should be happy you were not successful.

 

I meant Round 32 for Brazil and England, not Round 16

 

Same here, I haven't recieved the email yet, but the status changed to unsuccessful. I applied for 7 matches. My wife is in the same situation. We got nothing so far. It's hopeless.

 

Used 2 accounts in this RSD, both 'clean' both unsuccessful. Was after relatively minor group games that coincide with Australia games, Egy v Belg and Alg v Jor. Should be able to pick them up by WC time I reckon. Picked up all the Aussie games in Visa pre sale and PMA so overall am very happy with my haul. It's disappointing reading everyone that missed out completely on this forum. This is my 2nd WC, Qatar was so easy, could get whatever you wanted at reasonable prices. I think the demand is real and crazy now. This time you are competing with the huge local US/Mexico/Canada markets as well as a greedy as hell FIFA. The 'local market' wasn't a factor in Qatar. Still a few more opportunities left, but it's bloody hard work that's for sure.

 

Used a single account and received my notice on partial success 2/7/2026 at 1: 20 PM MST. Applied for ten matches, got 6, 17 tickets total, $10,680, avg $628. Except for match 59, I applied for Cat 1 with option to downgrade for each match. Failed on matches 32, 48, 89, & 91.

The successes:

Match 5 Haiti/Scotland - Saturday 13 June 2026, 21:00
Boston Stadium 4 tickets Category 1

Match 40 New Zealand/Egypt - Sunday 21 June 2026, 18:00
BC Place Vancouver 2 tickets Category 1

Match 54 South Africa/Korea Republic - Wednesday 24 June 2026, 19:00
Monterrey Stadium 1 tickets Category 1

Match 59 European Play-off C/USA - Thursday 25 June 2026, 19:00
Los Angeles Stadium 4 tickets Category 2

Match 61 Norway/France - Friday 26 June 2026, 15:00
Boston Stadium 4 tickets Category 1

Match 81 1D/3BEFIJ - Wednesday 01 July 2026, 17:00
San Francisco Bay Area Stadium 2 tickets Category 1

Managing: Monterrey -> LA -> Boston over three days will be interesting as well as challenging

 

The point is whether real fans who want to watch the matches are getting the tickets, or resellers are getting them.

 

Yeah, something is not right here. FIFA might be holding tickets to manipulate demand, and keep prices high as long as possible when the largest number of people start looking to buy in May or so. Maybe they know they can’t really sell out at current prices, which would cause prices to drop? We’ll see.

 

I think extreme demand manipulation is at play here. We’ll see what happens later.

 

Wow, nearly $11K for those? Probably would have cost less than $1K in Qatar.

 

Has anyone managed to get tickets through the ballot for Brazil vs Morocco? I haven’t come across a single success story, even on this forum.

 

So I got unsuccessful on 3 accounts, however am I only seeing CAT 1 and 2 be successful at the moment?

I know CAT 3 are rare, however surely we should be seeing more than this. I have a feeling FIFA is trying to create FOMO to maximise CAT 1 & 2 Sales in the FCFS, as well as the resale market inventory then being eaten into, as people panic of not getting tickets

This is just going to have to be a waiting game, playing that virtual poker face if you will, waiting to see who flinches first

Only thing im 100% sure about, is why would FIFA give you a CAT 3 in this phase, when they can potentially sell it on a FCFS buyer in CAT 1/2, would be a no brainer

Just cant panic, and wait and see what happens, however i feel like this is a big brain play to keep demand into FCFS

 

Which category did you apply for both?