FIFA claim they ‘regret’ an error that caused football fans to secure tickets to this month’s World Cup for FREE. In an email shared on social media, world football’s organising body got in touch with fans confirming the error.
It suggested that the price was incorrect and the tickets had been refunded, albeit had been held reserved for fans that wanted to re-purchase at the correct price. The email read: “Dear Football Fan,In preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, we continuously monitor our ticketing systems to ensure accuracy and provide a seamless purchasing experience for all fans.
“As part of these efforts, we identified and resolved an issue with ticket pricing that affected a small number of tickets sold on FIFA.com/tickets on 21 May 2026. This issue caused certain tickets to be displayed with inaccurate prices at checkout and in the completed transaction records.
“You have been identified as a customer who purchased a ticket affected by this pricing inaccuracy. In accordance with the Terms of Sale for the General Public, all ticket orders that included tickets with inaccurate prices have been canceled. You will receive a full refund for all payments made in connection with these ticket orders.
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“To ensure you do not miss the opportunity to attend the FIFA World Cup 2026™, we have reserved the same ticket(s) for you to purchase at the correct price. This ticket(s) will be available for purchase through your FIFA ticketing account for 7 days from the date of this message. If the purchase is not completed within this period, the reserved ticket(s) will be removed from your account.”
A follow-up statement then read: “FIFA can confirm that approximately 60 FIFA World Cup 2026 fans received a communication on Wednesday, 3 June regarding tickets that had been allocated at no charge (0 USD) due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process.
View 2 ImagesFIFA have spoken out on the ticketing error(Image: Getty Images)
“The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount. FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused.”
The pricing strategy for the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico has been widely criticised, with tickets for some games costing in the thousands. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has defended that strategy though and claimed that the unprecedented demand has exceeded even their expectations.
The prices were then damned even further when US President Donald Trump claimed that even he wouldn’t pay the extortionate prices to watch the nation’s tournament opener against Paraguay.
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