Fifa has cancelled World Cup tickets that were mistakenly issued to about 60 fans for free because of a website error, and is now asking them to pay the full price. The tickets were allocated at no charge due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process, the governing body said in a statement on Thursday.
"Fifa regrets the error and any inconvenience caused," it said. "The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount." The mispriced tickets were sold through the official World Cup site on 21 May, according to an email sent to buyers.
This is the latest glitch in a ticketing programme that is under investigation by the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey for possible violations of consumer protection laws. The incident occurred more than three months after Fifa president Gianni Infantino said all 104 World Cup games had sold out.
Tickets for the 2026 World Cup, which opens next Thursday in Mexico City, are still being sold by Fifa. It remains unclear if seats for less popular games will be reduced under Fifa's controversial surge pricing model. The governing body is also operating its own resale platform, taking a 15 per cent commission from both buyers and sellers, to cut out ticket dealers.
Tickets for this edition are vastly more expensive than any previous World Cup, which Fifa has justified as necessary to earn billions of dollars for distribution to member federations. When the United States, Canada and Mexico won hosting rights in 2018, they promised to sell hundreds of thousands of tickets at $21 each for group-stage matches.
