In sport, fairness matters. But when it comes to buying tickets to watch the world’s biggest ever sporting event, money matters too.

Attending the men’s Fifa World Cup 2026 will be much more expensive than any previous World Cup. And that’s not what fans were promised.

In fact, when the US, Canada and Mexico set out their original bid to host the tournament, they said a seat at the final would cost a maximum of US$1,550 (£1,174).

But by April 2026, the cheapest standard final ticket had reached US$5,785. The most expensive seats hit US$10,990 and later tripled. Just two days before the start of the tournament there were reports of 180,000 unsold tickets.

Politicians in New York and New Jersey have launched a formal investigation into allegations that Fifa has confused fans and inflated prices. Fans have complained of a lack of clarity, with many waiting hours in online queuing systems with no idea of the amount they’d have to pay when (and if) they were allocated tickets.

Overall, prices went up for 90 out of 104 matches.

The increase in costs may remind some music fans of the 2024 scandal over Oasis concert tickets when customers watched prices more than double from £148 to £355 as they waited in online queues.

“Dynamic pricing”, when prices go up and........

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