[ad_1]
The next World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and will be held from June 11 to July 19, 2026.
This will be the first tournament to feature 48 teams, expanding from the previous 32 teams, and will feature more matches than ever before, for a total of 104 teams.
Since the tournament is so far away, not many details are known about tickets, but here’s what we know so far.
Where are the matches?
The World Cup will be held in 16 cities across three countries, more than any other tournament to date.
Three of these locations are in Mexico: Monterrey, Guadalajara, and Mexico City.
The other two are on either coast of Canada: Vancouver and Toronto.
The remaining 11 are in the United States: Miami, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Kansas City, Dallas, and New York City.
That U.S. list includes the closest major city to each stadium. Some venues are located in lesser-known nearby communities, such as East Rutherford, New Jersey in New York or Santa Clara in San Francisco.
How does the tournament work?
Since 1998, the World Cup has had 32 teams, creating a nice symmetry, but this time it’s bigger, with 48 teams, so a slightly more complex format is required.
The tournament previously had eight groups of four teams, with each country competing once. The top two in each group will advance to four knockout stages: the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final.
The United States, Canada, and Mexico all qualify automatically. The remaining 45 spots will be filled through separate qualifying competitions on each continent.
In 2026, there will still be four teams in the group, with the top two advancing to the next stage, but the group will be 12 teams instead of eight.
The top eight teams in third place among the 12 teams in the group will also advance. This is a similar format to the European Championship (24 teams).
32 teams will advance to the knockout stage and the tournament will continue from the round of 16 as in previous tournaments. That means there will be an additional knockout round.
Where are the biggest matches?
The United States, Canada and Mexico will play three group games at home.
Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, which hosted the 1970 and 1986 World Cup finals, will host the tournament’s opening match. In all, the United States will host 78 games, with Canada and Mexico each hosting 13 games.
All quarterfinals and semifinals, as well as the final, will be held in the United States. The quarterfinals will be held in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Kansas City, and the semifinals will be held in Dallas and Atlanta.
The 23rd World Cup Final will be held on July 19, 2026 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City.
These stadiums are divided into three regions: West, Central, and East to minimize fan movement. Nevertheless, the distances within the region are significant, with Kansas City and Mexico City (2,385 miles apart) in the same region, as well as Toronto and Miami (1,939 miles apart).
Are tickets on sale?
no.
Although there are more than two years until the tournament begins, there is little public information regarding tickets.
A page on the FIFA website allows users to simply register their details and receive information when tickets become available. The Athletic Tournament organizers have been contacted for comment.
How does the ticketing process work?
We don’t know for sure, but we can make some guesses by looking at similar events such as past World Cups and European Championships.
Tickets for major tournaments are basically divided into three categories.
First, the member associations, i.e. tickets for the two countries to play each other in a particular match, are allocated. These are usually given to supporters based on loyalty. For example, points accumulated by following that country in the qualifiers.
The availability of these varies greatly from country to country. It will be in high demand in the host country, but it will be easier to find in faraway countries with fewer tourists.
The second category is tickets given to sponsors and other members of what FIFA likes to call the “football family.”
This doesn’t just mean VIPs stuffed into luxury hospitality boxes. At last year’s Champions League final in Istanbul, only around 40,000 tickets were handed out to Manchester City and Inter Milan fans. The rest of his 35,000 went to sponsors and all sorts of people with his UEFA connections. A small number of these may be available to general fans through tickets and giveaways.
As the tournament progresses and the matches become more glamorous, the demands from sponsors and other “neutral” supporters will also increase.
The third one is the rest. These are tickets that can be purchased by members of the public, even if they are not members of the national loyalty system or part of the football family.
How will these general sale tickets be allocated?
We don’t know for sure, but we can see how Germany, host of this summer’s European Championships, is allocating tickets.
There are two stages of voting, and people can choose to purchase multiple tickets in four different categories. Cheap tickets are generally in high demand, so voting in a more expensive category may make it easier to get tickets.
UEFA has not announced details of future ticket sales. Still, the number of tickets on sale to the public is likely to be limited between now and the tournament, which begins in June, and will likely be for games featuring less attractive teams in larger stadiums. is high.
The demand for tickets in Germany is very high for several reasons.
Firstly, watching live soccer matches is a big part of German culture, so it’s in high demand among locals.
Second, the competition will be held in Western Europe between 2016 and 2028, with the exception of Euro 2020, which was held across the continent but where travel was severely restricted due to the coronavirus. It is the only European Championship or World Cup.
This means that huge numbers of soccer fans across Europe want tickets to Germany.
It remains to be seen how much demand will increase in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup, especially in cities not normally associated with soccer, such as Kansas City and Houston, but the situation in the U.S. is changing rapidly in this regard. I am.
How much do World Cup tickets cost?
We don’t know yet, but we can look at precedent.
Although tournament organizers often sell some tickets at lower prices, tickets are actually very difficult to obtain and most fans pay much higher prices, so this It is often difficult to give a definitive answer to a question.
Analysis by German sports consultancy Keller Sports in 2022 found that the average ticket for the Qatar World Cup was £286, rising to £684 for the final. This was a 46 percent increase compared to the 2018 tournament held in Russia.
Prices for group stage tickets ranged from 40 riyals ($11) to 800 riyals ($213), excluding restricted-view tickets and special categories available only to Qatari citizens.
Prices rose steadily as the tournament progressed, with final ticket prices ranging from 750 riyals ($200) to 5,850 riyals ($1,560).
Tickets are being sold on secondary resale sites, and prices can be much higher.
These types of platforms are often dangerous to use in Europe, as football bodies are not cooperating due to deeply ingrained cultural norms against very high ticket prices.
However, this taboo did not exist in the United States, and if you had $10,000 to spare, it was perfectly possible to purchase Super Bowl tickets through a trusted reseller.
It remains to be seen what approach the World Cup will take.
How much do tickets cost compared to the Super Bowl and other major events?
The lowest face value ticket for this year’s Super Bowl sold directly by the NFL was about $2,000, far more expensive than a major football game.
Tickets sold for about five times this price on the secondary market.
Tickets for the finals are likely to come at similar jaw-dropping prices, but if you’re not too picky about which matches you go to, you can potentially get tickets to earlier World Cup matches at much more affordable prices. Highly sexual.
Is it possible to watch all the World Cup matches?
Soccer YouTuber Theo Ogden (also known as Togden) watched every match of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, becoming the first person ever to do so at the tournament.
This was possible due to Qatar’s small geographical size, but would have required them to miss half of some matches in order to play in all of them.
But there’s no chance anyone will repeat the feat in 2026.
A total of 72 group stage matches will be completed over 17 frenetic days from June 11th to June 27th. The last of his four days will feature six of his matches, each covering the entire North American continent.
Due to the distance between the stadiums, fans will have to plan their matches carefully.
(Top photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
[ad_2]
Source link
