FIFA launches efforts to sell Club World Cup tickets, with 2026 World Cup tied in
FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, on Thursday delivered fans a “first-of-its-kind offer” to the 2025 Club World Cup, which will debut in the United States this summer, with ticket packs that include “guaranteed” access to the 2026 men’s World Cup — the grander international tournament that will also be held in the U.S. a year later.
Per the “Terms of Sale” document, here’s how it works:
Buyers of a standard “pack,” which features tickets to two or three Club World Cup matches, “will be granted a guaranteed option to buy one ticket to a FIFA World Cup 26 match in the United States (excluding the final),” FIFA said in a Thursday release.
In clause 4.2 of the Terms of Sale, is that FIFA can determine which 2026 World Cup match(es), and what type of ticket(s), the fan will have access to. Clause 2.4 also says: "Tickets available to be included within Ticket Packages shall be subject to availability and available for purchase on a first-come first-served basis. By way of these Terms of Sale, FIFA Ticketing makes no guarantees as to the availability of Tickets and any indication on the availability of Tickets by FIFA Ticketing is for guidance purposes."
First, fans mustn’t resell those tickets, and must actually use them — meaning they or a family member or friend must go to the game. They will then be offered the chance to buy a 2026 World Cup ticket — match and seat specifics to be revealed later.
The second offering is the “Super Ticket Pack.” This package “features one ticket per match to 20 FIFA Club World Cup 2025 matches,” and then “a guaranteed option to buy one ticket” to the 2026 World Cup final, the most prestigious event in all of sports.
The buyer of a “super ticket pack” must “use all [20] tickets to attend all [20] matches,” and the matches must be on 20 different days. (There are only 22 distinct Club World Cup matchdays.)
Alternatively, per the terms, they could share the pack with “guests” — someone with whom they’re “capable of demonstrating a pre-existing relationship.” Those guests could attend some of the 20 matches in their place. Among the fans and their guests, they’d get the right to buy one 2026 World Cup ticket.
Ticket prices unknown for 2026
Ticket prices for 2026 have not yet been announced, and tickets won’t go on sale until the fall. FIFA has closely guarded all details.
Ticket prices for the 2025 Club World Cup, meanwhile, are roughly the same as they were when first released in December, both on Ticketmaster and within this “ticket pack” promotion via FIFA. “Category 1” seats — those in lower levels — cost anywhere from $100 to upward of $200, before taxes and fees, in the group stage; they cost $2,600, plus taxes and fees, for the final.
“Category 2” seats — typically those in a stadium’s upper deck along the sideline — range from roughly $60 to $140 before taxes and fees in the group stage. Some cheaper tickets have been sold to supporters of the participating clubs.
However, the prices are far higher than those charged by the biggest European soccer clubs and have caused some consternation among fans. Bailey Brown, president of the Independent Supporters Council, a group representing soccer fans across the U.S. and Canada, told Yahoo Sports in December that she was worried that “many of the most passionate fans will be priced out of enjoying the sport.”
FIFA, Infantino make push to sell Club World Cup
With two months of the opener, between Inter Miami and Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida, many seats remain available.
In an effort to sell them, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been holding promotional events alongside soccer dignitaries and celebrities.
Last month, he leveraged his relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump to bring the Club World Cup trophy into the Oval Office, and leave it there on display. He used a media session alongside Trump to pump up the tournament and place it on par with the big World Cup.
Infantino’s Instagram account is with filled posts promoting the Club World Cup. FIFA and its partners, in messages to everyone from soccer fans to NFL season ticket holders, have been marketing the event as “the most prestigious club soccer tournament in history.” They have been telling stakeholders that it will be “as big as the last [men’s] World Cup,” according to multiple people who’ve heard FIFA’s pitch.
After attempting to drum up interest, FIFA and Infantino ultimately struck a global broadcast deal with DAZN, which soon thereafter announced an equivalent investment from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
And so, after years of uncertainty, the Club World Cup is happening. It will pay out $1 billion in appearance fees and prize money to the 32 participating clubs.
