FIFA chief Infantino admits World Cup ticket resale prices will be higher - ESPN

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that many fans who have applied for tickets for the 2026 World Cup will be looking to sell them for profit on resale sites, thus driving up the cost of tickets for the summer event in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

There is such high demand for the event this year that Infantino said the governing body would need to hold a draw to allocate tickets to fans and acknowledged that prices would likely be even higher on resale platforms.

On FIFA's own resale marketplace, a ticket for the final was being listed for as much as $230,000 this week. FIFA does not resell tickets or set prices on the platform but can cash in for a second time by taking a 30% cut from any sale.

Addressing the issue at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, Infantino said that in the U.S. it is «perfectly legal to resell tickets on resale platforms. There is a law for that, so we have to of course allow that.»

He said all 104 matches at the World Cup would be sold out. «So, you can be sure that these tickets, for which we'll have to make a draw because every game will be sold out, will probably be resold at even higher prices. And this is incredible but it shows really the impact that [the World Cup] has.

»In 100, almost 100, years of World Cup history, FIFA sold around 50 million tickets in total," he said. «Now for this World Cup in four weeks [on sale], we have the request for 1,000 years of World Cups at once. This is unique. It's incredible.»

It could also lead to a lot of disappointed fans being driven to resale sites, where tickets are being listed for multiples of their face value.

Fans have reacted with outrage to the pricing strategy for this year's tournament. FIFA is asking for