World Cup final tickets are already on sale on secondary websites a week before FIFA starts its general sale of tickets for matches across North America next summer
A secondary selling site is offering VIP packages for the deciding game at next summer’s sporting showpiece.
The advert was posted online a week before FIFA starts its general sale of tickets for matches at the tournament jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico. Two final tickets costing £33,800 each – reportedly for seats next to each other – were on offer via website ticombo.
The VIP seats were the highest priced of over 150 tickets advertised for sale for the July 19 decider at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The cheapest of the rest was £6,770.
Another website – vividseats – was offering tickets for England’s opening group match against Croatia in Dallas, Texas, on June 17 for up to £6,220.
Seats for Thomas Tuchel ’s team’s second match against Ghana in Boston on June 23 were going for up to £4,880. While tickets for the Three Lions’ final Group L clash with Panama in New Jersey on June 27 were available for up to £4,192. FIFA does not start selling tickets for tournament matches to the general public until December 11.
Some went up for grabs via a pre-sale draw only open to holders of qualifying Visa cards for nine days from September 10.
The governing body offered more to fans invited to take part in an Early Ticket Draw over just four days in October.
Industry sources warned people advertising tickets now may not have any seats and could be gambling on the hope they might be able to get hold of some.
FIFA has admitted it is powerless to stop people secondary selling tickets in the US and Canada because neither country has any laws to stop it.
Mexico has similar restrictions to those recently introduced in the UK to stop profiteering so tickets for matches there will be resold at face value.
Fans’ organisation Football Supporters Europe and campaign group Euroconsumers have written a joint letter to FIFA urging it to step in and stop ticket profiteering at the tournament. The organisation said: “The fact that scalping is legal doesn’t mean FIFA must become the scalper.
“The World Cup is not a commercial product like any other – it is a global cultural event that depends on the passion, loyalty, and inclusion of ordinary fans.
“We fear that fans will continue to feel excluded and exploited by a pricing model that fails to reflect the spirit of the World Cup.”
A FIFA source said though fans may offer tickets for re-sale at vastly inflated prices in the US and Canada the governing body does not set those fees and supporters ‘do not have to pay them’.
The cheapest and safest way to purchase tickets is via’s FIFA’s official sale or a competing nation’s association such as the FA, the source added. A FIFA spokesman said: “Ringfenced allocations are being set aside for specific fan categories.
“These allocations will be set at a fixed price for the duration of the next ticket sales phase. The pricing model adopted for FIFA World Cup 26 reflects the existing market practice for major entertainment and sporting events within our hosts on a daily basis, soccer included.
“This is also a reflection of the treatment of the secondary market for tickets,which has a distinct legal treatment than in many other parts of the world.
“We are focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing but also prospective fans.” Secondary selling sites stress they do not set the advertised prices which are determined by those folk flogging the tickets.