LOS ANGELES: FIFA received five million requests for World Cup 2026 tickets in the first 24 hours of the latest sales phase, football’s world governing body said on Friday, despite an outcry from fan groups this week about high prices for the tournament.

Fans from more than 200 countries and territories applied via FIFA.com for seats at the first 48-team World Cup, which will be staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, 2026, FIFA said.

Football Supporters Europe (FSE) on Thursday called on FIFA to immediately halt sales of national team allocations, accusing the governing body of imposing “extortionate” ticket prices that risk shutting ordinary fans out of the tournament.

Ticket prices had jumped five-fold from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, according to FSE.

Early demand is being driven by high-profile group-stage clashes, with Colombia v Portugal in Miami on June 27 the most sought-after fixture so far in the Random Selection Draw period.

Brazil v Morocco (New York/New Jersey, June 13), Mexico v South Korea (Guadalajara, June 18), Ecuador v Germany

(New York/New Jersey, June 25) and Scotland v Brazil (Miami, June 24) round out the top five matches.

After the three host nations, the top countries of residence for ticket requests were Colombia, England, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Scotland, Germany, Australia, France and Panama.

FIFA said the strong presence of South American and Central American fans showed how the tournament was capturing the imagination across the Americas, while Scotland’s position reflected excitement over their first World Cup in 28 years.

The Random Selection Draw phase runs until January 13 at 1100 ET (1700 CET), with FIFA stressing the timing of an application within that window does not affect chances of success.

Fans can choose specific matches, ticket categories and quantities, subject to household limits, and will be charged automatically if their applications are successful.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025