Anxiety, anticipation as World Cup one-month countdown begins
The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey will host the July 19 final of the 2026 World Cup, the largest and most complex edition of the tournament ever staged (AL BELLO) The one-month countdown to the 2026 World Cup gets under way on Monday with anticipation crashing into anxiety as soaring ticket prices, political tensions in Donald Trump's America and the war in Iran cast an early shadow over the football showpiece. A record 48 teams and millions of fans are set to descend on the United States, Canada and Mexico for the first ever World Cup co-hosted by three nations. The sprawling, nearly six-week-long spectacle kicks off at Mexico City's iconic Estadio Azteca on June 11 before culminating in the final at New Jersey's 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium on July 19.
Yet a turbulent build-up has meant the 23rd edition of the World Cup risks feeling like a morning-after headache before the party has even started, with a potent cocktail of affordability concerns, politics and conflict already souring the mood. FIFA President Gianni Infantino insists the pre-tournament unease is overblown, dismissing the tide of downbeat headlines as "negative press. " "The truth of the matter is that it's very difficult to find something negative around this World Cup," Infantino told a business conference in Beverly Hills this week.
But Infantino's bullish optimism has not been broadly shared around the football world. - 'Extortionate' tickets - The skyrocketing cost of tickets for the tournament has triggered a global backlash which has left FIFA and Infantino scrambling to manage the public relations fallout. Fan organization Football Supporters Europe (FSE) has branded the World Cup pricing structure as "extortionate" and a "monumental betrayal", citing ticket prices that have put the tournament -- expected to help generate $13 billion for FIFA -- out of reach for many.
The most expensive ticket for the final in 2022 cost around $1,600 at face value; in 2026 the most expensive face value ticket being sold by FIFA now weighs in at an eye-watering $32,970. Infantino says the prices are appropriate for the United States, which will host the bulk of the tournament's fixtures. "We have to look at the market -- we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world.
So we have to apply market rates," Infantino said. FIFA has reported more than 500 million requests for tickets, compared to 50 million combined for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments. However despite claims that the tournament is a sellout, seats for many games -- including the United States' opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles on June 12 -- remain available on secondary ticket market sites.
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