Al Ahly vs. Inter Miami upper deck tickets cost $379. It costs $172 to sit in the top seats at Lumen Field for the group stage game between Botafogo and the Seattle Sounders. A “lower tier” ticket to the final could cost $2,230, according to a table that has since been removed from Bayern Munich’s website. Additionally, some of these prices may change as FIFA has partnered with Ticketmaster to use a non-automated version of dynamic pricing for the 2025 Men’s Club World Cup.
Tickets for the tournament, which will be held in the United States, went on sale to the general public on Thursday. And they are trying to figure out how FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, will extract unprecedented profits from the U.S. market over the next two summers, first with the inaugural Club World Cup and then with the 2026 Men’s World Cup. Provided hints on what to do.
Prices varied from game to game, ranging from $58 for the upper corner at the Rose Bowl to well over $100 for most upper deck seats in the first batch of tickets on sale Thursday. Most lower and mid-level seats in the corners or beyond the end line cost $200 or more.
In some cases, it’s similar to what FIFA has charged for tickets to the crown jewel Men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022 – the Club World Cup is a novel and unproven competition, with broadcasters and sponsors ) and fans.
In Qatar, tickets for the World Cup semifinals ranged from $137 to $956. According to a post on Bayern’s website, when purchasing a conditional ticket to the Club World Cup semi-finals in the United States three years from now, registered supporters of the participating teams will pay $526 in the “upper tier” at MetLife Stadium, ” It will cost $995 for the lower tier. – Currently modified to remove knockout round prices.
According to FIFA, tickets for these final tournaments will go on sale to the general public on January 16th. The four-week sales period that began Thursday only covers group stage games and does not yet include lower-level sideline seats, which are considered the most expensive.
Club World Cup tickets and “adaptive pricing”
To some extent, prices are a byproduct of a hasty planning process fraught with uncertainty. To get the Club World Cup off the ground, FIFA needed to secure more than a dozen venues, which meant negotiating with stadium owners across the United States. These negotiations, which were ultimately announced in late September, required compromise between two profit-seeking organizations. Stadium owners and FIFA.
So instead of selling tickets on its own website, FIFA agreed to sell them through Ticketmaster, which has existing partnerships with most of its 12 stadiums. And they probably agreed to split some of the ticket revenue.
They also agreed to a scheme similar to Ticketmaster’s infamous “dynamic pricing,” in which prices change based on demand, to help sellers and event organizers maximize their profits. A FIFA spokesperson clarified that “adaptive pricing” for the Club World Cup is not automated, but organizers could adjust prices over time between now and the tournament starts in June. admitted that there is. The ‘Important Event Information’ blurb on all Ticketmaster Club World Cup match portals reads: ‘Please note that ticket prices are subject to change on a daily basis due to changing market conditions.’ It is stated.
Typically, for major soccer tournaments such as the World Cup or the European Championship, organizers such as FIFA and UEFA set fixed prices and sell tickets through their own online portals. Ahead of Qatar 2022, FIFA has divided tickets into four categories and set prices that apply to each category for all matches in a given round. For example, a Category 3 ticket for a group stage game costs $69. Category 1 tickets cost $220 for the group stage, $275 for the round of 16, and more for the quarterfinals and semifinals.
A similar system was used for Euro 2024, with group stage ticket prices up to Category 1 at $32, $64, $160 and $215, with “prime seats” priced at $430. These numbers increased for knockout matches, but remained unchanged after UEFA announced and started selling tickets on its website.
Club World Cup tickets, on the other hand, are treated similarly to Copa America tickets in 2024 and tickets for many American sports. Prices are set based on expected demand for a particular match, so they vary by team, time, location, stadium, and other factors.
For Inter Miami’s season opener at Hard Rock Stadium, Upper Level Corner tickets cost $223. Endline tickets for the 200 level are $558 (including fees but before tax).
Top sideline tickets for Miami’s second game against Porto in Atlanta cost $134.
Upper-level sideline tickets will cost just over $100 for another Group A game between Palmeiras and Al Ahly at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium at noon Thursday.
These first batches of tickets for all Group A and Group B games went on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. ET. Similar batches for the remaining groups were scheduled to go on sale at 1:00 PM (Groups G and H), 3:00 PM (C and D), and 5:00 PM ET (E and F).
Team-specific access to Club World Cup tickets
Separately, “FIFA has also secured an allocation of tickets for the clubs’ fans attending each match,” the organization said in a news release. These tickets will be sold via ‘access codes’ provided by each of the 32 clubs and will not be subject to ‘adaptive pricing’. Instead, they will be grouped together into “dedicated price categories.”
Some clubs, such as Manchester City, have released information about their access processes this week. And some, such as Bayern and Borussia Dortmund, have revealed their set prices. Bayern announced that “upper tier” tickets for the season opener in Cincinnati against Oakland City will cost $45, while “lower tier” tickets will cost $107. For the second game against Argentine powerhouse Boca Juniors in Miami, prices will rise to $76 and $161. (Probably for the end line seats behind the goal.)
FIFA said the club-specific sales would also include “conditional tickets to the final,” adding: “These tickets will become final once the club (selected by the fan) has qualified for the match in question.” It is said that
Bayern’s post suggests that prices will rise sharply as the finals progress, with prices in the cheaper category for the Club World Cup finals coming in at $892.
Next up: 2026 World Cup tickets
For some fans, the price confirmed or exacerbated fears that tickets to the 2026 World Cup would be prohibitively expensive.
Historically, World Cup tickets were sold exclusively by FIFA, not through third-party intermediaries, and were not subject to dynamic pricing. However, fans and officials still expect 2026 to be the most expensive World Cup in history.
In the race for the right to host the tournament, North American soccer officials have proposed an average price of $305 per group stage ticket.
The North American bid submitted an overall ticket revenue estimate of $1.8 billion based on its projections. Most recently, FIFA budgeted more than $3 billion for ticket sales and hospitality revenue throughout the 2023-26 World Cup cycle. This was a significant increase from less than $1 billion in the previous four-year cycle. Well over $2 billion, and perhaps more than $3 million, of this record revenue will come from the 2026 Men’s World Cup. And many believe all of these estimates are conservative, especially considering the tournament’s new format will feature 104 games.
Pricing is now in the hands of FIFA, which has stuck to its plans. Tickets are not expected to go on sale until late 2025, but clues will be revealed as FIFA brings its hospitality packages to market in the coming months.
The millionaires FIFA brought to the United States
The 2026 World Cup will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, but 80 of the 104 games will be played in the United States, with total revenue expected to exceed $10 billion, compared to FIFA’s approximately $4 billion in expenses. It is expected. It will be the most lucrative sports tournament ever.
Meanwhile, the 2025 Club World Cup is financially more uncertain. Even with the $1 billion global broadcast deal in place, FIFA is reportedly expected to make less than originally expected.
However, FIFA promised in a document released earlier this month that its reserves, totaling $4 billion, would remain “untouched.” All operating expenses, performance fees and prize money paid to the club will be “fully covered by tournament profits.” Beyond these expenses, the document states: “For the first time, a solidarity model will see net revenues redistributed to club football around the world. This model will be tailored to the ultimate commercial success of the tournament. It will be done.”
Its success depends largely on commercial deals and, of course, ticket sales.
