World Cup resale tickets now cheaper than those available direct from FIFA

World Cup ticket prices could drop in the weeks leading up to the tournament, with resale tickets now significantly cheaper than those still available direct from FIFA in many instances, including for the United States’ opener against Paraguay.

FIFA opened a new sales window on Thursday and for the co-hosts’ first match in Los Angeles a Category 1 ticket on Friday morning was priced at 2,735 US dollars (£2,013).

On FIFA’s resale platform, Category 1 tickets were available from 1,300 USD (£957) – less than half the price of a first-hand ticket.

FIFA has controversially adopted a dynamic pricing strategy for its primary ticket sales and, if resale prices continue to remain cheaper, it could drive down the cost of those primary tickets.

Tickets were not showing as available for 10 matches on the primary ticketing site on Friday morning, including the final, the group stage game between Portugal and Colombia, a potential last-32 match involving Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Miami and the possible last-16 match between England and Mexico in Mexico City.

FIFA did not confirm on Friday morning whether that meant all tickets for those matches were now sold out or whether more might still be made available.

The cheapest Category 4 resale ticket available for the final on Friday morning was listed at 9,373 USD (£6,892), with the most expensive Category 1 tickets priced at 345,000 USD – over £250,000.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino told his organisation’s Congress last week there had been 500 million ticket requests.

“We sold 100 per cent of the inventory that we put on the market, which is more or less 90 per cent of the global inventory so far,” he added.

“And, of course, we are always putting tickets on the market. There are expensive tickets, yes, but there are also affordable tickets.”

He went further in defending the prices at a conference in Beverly Hills earlier this week, claiming they compared favourably even with tickets to attend US college sports events.

Despite President Trump’s comments on pricing, the head of his World Cup task force, Andrew Giuliani, told the Financial Times: “We don’t really believe in price controls.”

He added that sales were on a “pretty good pathway” with over five million tickets sold.

On the prospect of primary ticket prices dropping, Michael Gietzen, the chief executive of experiential agency Identity Global, told the Press Association: “In theory, yes (they could) – that’s exactly what dynamic pricing is designed to do.

“If tickets are consistently and significantly cheaper on the official resale platform, the algorithm should be reading that as a demand signal and adjusting primary prices accordingly. Whether FIFA’s system is genuinely responsive enough to do that in practice is the real question. Dynamic pricing only works if the organisation is willing to let prices move in both directions.”

Asked whether fans should wait it out and hope for a price crash, Gietzen said: “If you’re a local fan with flexibility, there’s a reasonable case for waiting, and watching both the primary and official resale platforms.

“But for international supporters with flights and accommodation already in the mix, that calculation changes significantly. You’re not just betting on a ticket price, you’re betting on your whole trip. My advice would be to monitor closely, act when you see value on an official channel and don’t hold out for a crash that may not come.”