<\/p>\nListen to this article<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>5 mins<\/span><\/p>\n<\/button>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>With 100 \u2060days to go until the tournament kicks off, appetite for tickets to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is reaching fever pitch despite eye-watering prices that have fans crying foul amid global unrest after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n<p>In addition \u2060to the war against Iran \u2013 a country scheduled to play its World Cup group stage games in the US \u2013 the heavy-handed immigration crackdowns in the US and the violence that erupted near host city Guadalajara after the death of Mexico\u2019s most-wanted drug cartel leader are causing concern for fans.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m afraid I might not \u2060be allowed into the country. I\u2019ve decided to fly to Canada at most but not to the USA,\u201d German football fan Tom Roeder told the Reuters news agency<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope that at least the issue of war with Iran does not reach North America, at least not in a way that affects us personally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FIFA, which did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment, has said nearly 2 million tickets were sold in the first two sales phases and demand was so intense that World Cup tickets were oversubscribed more than 30 \u200ctimes.<\/p>\n<p>The most expensive tickets for the opening game are going for almost $900 and more than $8,000 for the final while tickets in general cost at least $200 for matches involving leading nations. The cheapest tickets for the final cost $2,000 and the best seats $8,680 \u2013 that is before taking into account FIFA\u2019s official resale site, where one category three seat for the game in New Jersey on July 19 was being advertised for an eye-watering $143,750, more than 41 times its original face value of $3,450.<\/p>\n<p>Political and social tensions surrounding host nations are nothing new for the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said there was \u201cno risk\u201d for fans coming to the country, and Adrian Nunez Corte, leader of Unipes, a fan association in Spain, said the situation has not affected willingness to buy tickets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cObviously, it is causing concern, but some Spanish fans living in the area have helped to calm things down after the initial hours of alarm,\u201d Corte said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is no alarm regarding US immigration policy, but people are taking preparation of the necessary visas seriously to avoid problems, especially since some fans will be travelling between the US and Mexico due to the match schedule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The buzz around the tournament in North America is unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe demand for the 2026 World Cup \u2060in the USA, Canada and Mexico is the strongest I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d said Michael Edgley, director at Australia\u2019s Green and \u2060Gold Army Travel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think FIFA will make record amounts of money. There\u2019s no question.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis World Cup will be a massive financial success, and the beneficiaries will be the member federations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But such popularity comes with a price.<\/p>\n<p>Geography adds another layer of complexity as the tournament spans 16 host cities across three countries, making it more challenging and expensive for fans wanting to follow their teams.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe price of \u2060tickets has been a major drawback, particularly affecting the number of matches each fan will attend, as well as the distances between venues and the costs involved,\u201d Corte said.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"secondary-ticket-market-soars\">Secondary ticket market soars<\/h2>\n<p>The sticker shock is even more pronounced this year, especially with \u2060a huge resale market in which tickets are sold at above face value, which is legal in the \u2060US and Canada.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA defended the ticketing model.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnlike the entities behind profit-driven third-party ticket marketplaces, FIFA is a not-for-profit organisation,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRevenue generated from the FIFA World Cup 2026 ticket sales model is reinvested into the global development of football. \u2026 FIFA expects to reinvest more than 90 percent of its budgeted investment for the 2023-2026 cycle back into the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mehdi Salem, vice president of the French football fans association Les \u200cBaroudeurs du Sport, said its members are seeing more than a 200 percent increase on what they were told would be the prices in 2018 by the French federation and FIFA.<\/p>\n<p>The pricing pain is so acute that Salem\u2019s association, which boasts about 400 members, will have only 100 attend the tournament \u2013 a dramatic drop that he attributed to ticket prices \u200cand \u200cthe political landscape in the US.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe feel like this World Cup will not really be a people\u2019s World Cup but rather an elitist World Cup,\u201d Salem added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a05 mins info With 100 \u2060days to go until the tournament kicks off, appetite for tickets to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada is reaching fever pitch despite eye-watering prices that have fans crying foul amid global unrest after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. In addition \u2060to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}