Not a great first look, FIFA. 

During Thursday night’s World Cup match in Guadalajara, Mexico, between South Korea and the Czech Republic, thousands of seats were empty amid concerns over high ticket prices. 

Even though FIFA reported a nearly full attendance of 44,985 for the contest, vacant sections were still visible, especially in the VIP zones and sections opposite the main camera.

The attendance number indicated nearly all available tickets were sold, but potentially to people who couldn’t offload them. 

Tickets in the stadium’s empty sections ranged from $400 for general admission to $5,000 for corporate hospitality, raising concerns and prompting fans not to purchase them as part of a growing trend. 

While FIFA’s governing body discreetly reduced prices across all 104 games and released 70 percent of its bulk-reserved hotel rooms to fill seats, it wasn’t a sufficient effort. 

The night before the tournament, nearly 180,000 tickets were still listed across official resale portals, according to The Sun.

Around 15,000 group-stage tickets were also still attainable through FIFA’s website. 

For the United States’ opener against Paraguay on Friday, nearly 4,400 tickets remained unsold through official channels, as of Friday morning, and the cheapest tickets were $1,120. 

For England’s opener against Croatia next Wednesday, hundreds of tickets are still available, with the lowest price for a ticket being $867 and the highest being $9,225 for a ticket and meal package with access to a VIP lounge. 

Compared to 2022, the cheapest ticket for the 2026 World Cup Final in the United States is around 10 times more expensive than for the championship match in Qatar.

The crisis largely stems from FIFA’s decision to adopt variable pricing, a model different from “dynamic pricing” for the first time at a World Cup.

For 90 of the 104 games, prices increased 34% between October 2025 and April 2026. 

Still, FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended ticket prices for the tournament, citing that significant work and analysis went into determining how FIFA dictated prices.

Infantino also said the World Cup’s demand was extremely high.

“We want to bring the World Cup to every football fan, and this is what this price structure is. It’s what dynamic pricing is as well,” Infantino said. “We had the Club World Cup last year, the prices of some matches went up, others went down. In this situation, they could have gone down as well. They didn’t really go down. This shows maybe the price point was the right one.”

After two games Thursday, the World Cup continues Friday with two more between the United States and Paraguay and Canada vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina.