The World Cup 2026 match between Switzerland and Qatar played out in front of hundreds of empty seats to raise further questions about Fifa’s ticket prices for the tournament.
The Group B clash at the 70,000-capacity Levi’s Stadium in San Francisco on Saturday was the first game to be staged in the United States not involving the co-hosts and it failed to sell out.
While the fixture was always unlikely to be considered ‘in-demand’, pockets of empty seats could be seen clearly throughout the stadium. A 12pm kick-off local time and sweltering temperatures won’t have helped, with Fifa’s go-to excuse of fans being on the concourses rather in their seats potentially having some validity.
Tickets remained on sale in the hours before kick-off, although Fifa’s own ticketing website displayed a ‘limited availability’ message when entering the portal on Saturday.
The cheapest tickets on sale were for $450 in the Category 1 tier and were located in the lower-bowl of Levi’s Stadium and towards the corners.
There were thousands of empty seats in just the second match of the tournament between South Korea and Czech Republic in Guadalajara on Thursday evening. There were also some empty seats at Canada’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto.
Fifa, meanwhile, released a statement defending the swathes of empty seats in South Korea’s opening-day win against the Czech Republic by insisting that some fans “stood in concourses rather than in their assigned seat.”
“Official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present within the stadium footprint, rather than visual assessments of seating occupancy at any given moment during the match,” a Fifa spokesperson said.
“Fifa works closely with stadium authorities and ticketing teams to ensure all published figures are based on verified operational data. Please note that, during last night’s match in Guadalajara, several ticketed fans could be seen standing in concourses rather than staying in their assigned seats throughout the match.”
Only 29 matches had sold out before the start of the World Cup on Thursday, with tickets still available on Fifa’s ticketing website for 75 matches in the days before the opening match, despite Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s claim that demand has been “unprecedented”.
It comes as ticketing practices for the 2026 World Cup are to be investigated by chief legal officers in the United States. The attorneys generals of New York and New Jersey insist Fifa must answer questions after allegations of “artificially inflating prices” and “misleading fans” over the sale of match tickets, with world football’s governing body subpoenaed to provide information.
Supporters have reported they were “misled” about the location of seats, including through the creation of more expensive ‘front’ category tickets released after the initial sales.
It is also alleged variable pricing through various phases and subject to demand had allowed Fifa to raise prices for about 90 of the 104 fixtures by an average of 34 per cent. Fifa has also been able to hold back seats before releasing them later, driving up pricing by increasing scarcity.
Infantino defended the price of World Cup tickets on the eve of the tournament, pointing towards the exorbitant cost of attending play-off matches in US sports, such as the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, and stating the World Cup is a bigger event.
The pricing of the World Cup has been a hugely controversial issue since tickets were first released in November, with the initial sales drop revealing £3,000 tickets for the World Cup final and fans with a £5,000 bill to follow their teams right through to the final. The 2026 World Cup is estimated to be up to five times more expensive than the last World Cup in Qatar, with Infantino targeting unprecedented revenues of $13bn from the tournament.
