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

i have 3 accounts made, but i will only submit one application this phase. if ppl get away with multiple applications then i'll see what to do from there

 

Well actually...

The easiest time to get tickets is the 1st round, for several reasons. You don't want to waste this opportunity.

There are people with 1000s of applications with the means to avoid being filtered out. Submitting one application alone is not a sensible idea. If you want to play it safe: get a 2nd visa card, another computer, a new gmail and submit 20-40 applications. At worst, you’ll only be wasting some time.

I won't attend this WC, so I won't be around .

 

Will separate IP addresses suffice via a VPN, or literally is a separate computer recommended?

 

you are referring to the gmail alias method right? i tried it a while back and i'm pretty sure i wasn't able to get it to work

 

I'm not disagreeing because you have the experience and knowledge that I respect and don't have. But when I look at all of the people who entered the initial lottery for easily-obtainable Canada TSTs and I was one of the very few who won, I wouldn't say that the 1st round was easier than later opportunities. Now for elimination matches I will presume to agree with you based on the little I read here. Thoughts welcome.

Curious about the separate computer; surely cycling the MAC address (and using a clean-cache Incognito session or similar) is sufficient? Would anyone use Canvas to shadow-ban (vs. using Canvas to permit access)? Would a clean image build (i.e. don't have a 5-year old highly personalized install of your OS) be sufficient vs. the separate computer, or is there something I'm missing?

The point I see from this post is that people's attempts to foil duplicate checking are likely insufficient to evade serious detection when compared to the pros. If FIFA tries to block the pros (the supposed targets of such efforts), they'll probably catch amateur attempts. And the point that others are (IMHO correctly) making is that FIFA has never been in the business of serious detection at this phase of ticket selling and in their opinion isn't about to start now that FIFA is profiting off of ticket scalping for the very first time. We will probably have to repeat this discussion after mid-October as we have the first sales period, and again in May as the last-minute phase rolls out.

Send me an address so I can deliver at least one beer to you during WC26.

 

I'm no IT person, have never really been into it, don't really understand it. At uni would go to the computer lab and pay someone to do my IT assignments etc. Really, I can't see fifa going after people who put in a few 'extra' applications. Rather I assume they would put resources into going after the sophisticated, professional ticket touts who try to game the system.
Like a few have said, getting in early is a good strategy. Buying blind is a risk but you can always sell, swap and trade later on with what you're after.

 

In the past, there were two ways to do this:

1. Team Specific Ticket (TST): You buy it as a package to follow a team’s matches, which includes the three group stage matches plus some increment of knockout rounds (TST-3,4,5,6,7). These were normally sold only in the pre-draw phases (Oct-Nov). Importantly, you’re guaranteed a ticket for all rounds you select. If your when your team loses, you start following whoever eliminated them (or their group winner). The indication this time is that they’ll only be available as a TST-3 (group stage).

2. Conditional Supporters Ticket: Similar to the TST except that these are sold through each country’s federation (via whatever means they decide) and you only get a ticket if your team is playing. Once your team is eliminated, FIFA will refund any further rounds that you paid for. In your case for the US specifically, these tickets are sold by lottery in US Soccer’s Insiders program. You have to be a member to enter the lottery and can buy into a higher tier to increase your odds of success. This time, US Soccer has said the allocation will be smaller than usual. I’d expect the group stage will be massively oversubscribed but the knockout rounds should be a bit lighter (people don’t plan ahead, given the uncertainty).

 

Usually VPNs are a bad ideia. Their IPs are known and fifa probably already received a number of applications originating from them. You can use the same computer, but at least change your browser (i.e. move to Firefox if you were using chrome for your main application).

I expected it to work. Someone else can comment?

You have a good point. I only have experience with IMTs, never purchased any TSTs. I assume TSTs have high demand even in the 1st round.

I mentioned another computer for those who don't want to risk flagging their main application if they cross-reference all the extra applications. Just change browsers and it's probably fine. Fifa isn't going after someone with 20 manual applications. They likely only crack down on amateurs with makeshift bots, those pumping 1000s of applications in a short time with mostly the same characteristics.

 

Just put it here: it is not fifa but secutix - the same vendor UEFA uses for champion league final

Some public service they offer to their client:
https://go.confluence.secutix.com/wiki/spaces/DOCEN/pages/124158103/BOT+PROTECT+-+v1.0+-+31+01+25

 

I’ve kept an eye on things but haven’t been active here since the 2014 World Cup. How I miss the simplicity of waking up in the middle of the night, desperately hitting refresh and hoping to land a decent place in the queue. Seems those days are long gone, and both FIFA and the touts are far more sophisticated.

For anyone curious about application odds or tactics, this is a fun little tool:
https://wc2026calc.com/

 

FIFA is mainly concerned about bots and automated applications. There’s no amount of applications you can submit manually that would concern them or reach the threshold where they’d apply any measures.

It’s the same idea as with the other rules, such as “strictly forbidding” resale on third party sites and the household restrictions and other account limitations. They need to state those rules in their terms & conditions so they have grounds to pursue action against professional scalping operations. They don’t care about you with your 5 accounts.

 

Someone has already created a script to bypass FIFA’s Datadome service on github. One can scarcely fathom the time and effort being spent by professional scalpers to secure the most prized tickets.
https://github.com/glizzykingdreko/fifa-fwc26-us-Datadome-bypass

 

I think what some are saying is, you maybe right that FIFA has improved their technology and implementing new tools to help weed through bots/touts/etc.

But no one can say what exactly FIFA is going to do, what they will enforce, etc. We are all speculating based on our experience with WC tix. Some are pushing back on your assured claim because no one really knows how this will all exactly play out.

 

As Oprah would say,

"You get a bot. You get a bot. And you get a bot. Everyone here today gets a bot."

Of course the $500/month for a mere 300,000 attempts to buy a WC ticket isn't mentioned. I suspect the pros lining up to buy 30,000 tickets can afford to spend a bit more than that. But if you want into that game, feel free to simply invest a few $ to buy your anti-bot service, your VMs, I suspect someone will publish "How to reconfigure your VM to avoid duplicate detection" scripts. For a grand, you'd be able to actually score four tickets to Jordan vs. Uzbekistan @ $400 for a Cat2 ticket (up from $300 pre-draw: variable pricing natch.)

BTW: This entire Phase 1 Lottery + FCFS looks like it was tailor-made for the pro scalpers. Highly cost-effective with maximum inventory visibility, along with hours between the start of windows to fine tune the tech. Hopefully FIFA will be learning as fast as the pros learn from FIFA...but who am I kidding.

 

The problem is that the tools used in their attempt to identify pro scalpers are just as likely to catch someone with 5 accounts as it would 500,000. Bycatch if you are fishing....

Think of it like the old radar detectors that were sold to the masses to avoid police speeding tickets. Sure the police were "only" interested in the really dangerous speeders. The problem is that those were the same people who invested in the best radar detectors. So the police ended up actually catching the people going just over the speed limit - turns out there was a lot of revenue in doing that despite failing to find all of the "dangerous speeders" they were looking for.

Where's the revenue for FIFA this time? It's not just in the tickets first sold, but with FIFA's resale platform allowing users to set their own price...it's the commission on the tickets second sold, third sold.... So why would FIFA not clamp down for Russia or Qatar (where there was no incentive to allow scalpers) but now suddenly clamp down for the country that thinks scalping is brilliant and FIFA's taking a cut of the action?

BTW: That HTTP 400 error that a few people (including me) ran into trying to enter the lottery? Anti-bot detection side-effect. Probably caught no one except the individual doing two signups at once.

 

it was used by FIFA for the last world cup as well, and caused massive problems on certain days
UEFA is using them for all of their signature competitions incl. EURO. can‘t recall any serious problems there.

 

You guys using the same CC for multiple entries?

 

I have my clean entries and then I picked up a prepaid VISA to spam some more. As someone said above I'm more than happy to risk wasting a couple hours of time in exchange for the potential of a bunch more entries.

 

agreed. I did the same. In reality, the CC is the last data that FIFA is checking. That is encrypted after you enter it and FIFA isn't dumb enough and doesn't want a giant spreadsheet of CC numbers to check.

 

Lol try whatever you like the chances of getting anything in this phase are not much higher than zero. Have a laugh with it and enjoy the process

 

Yeah, I think then next pre-draw lottery will be the best shot. There is just over 6 million tickets for this World Cup. I thought I read somewhere that 1 million will be available this draw. My guess is after sponsor and federation requirements they have between 4-5 million to be sold and for some matches, the bulk will be sold pre-draw.

 

@uuaww did FIFA confirm there will be a November FCFS ticket window before the December draw?

 

"Phase 2: Early Ticket Draw, with the registration window expected to take place from 27 to 31 October and time slots for purchase from mid-November to early December. Similar to the first phase, this will consist of an application, followed by a randomised selection process. Successful applicants will receive a time slot to purchase tickets (subject to availability)."

https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments...ek-to-go-before-first-phase-ticket-sales-open

 

Thank you! Wow two time-slot lotteries before the Draw. It's going to be a busy Q4

 

Gents I've been looking at the schedule and honestly it is so difficult to map out a set of matches I would like to attend, without having massive travel expenses. I wonder if FIFA will announce their ticket prices ahead of the Oct buying windows, or whether they will just allow fans to faint once inside the ticketing portal? So many variables and unknowns for this World Cup