Fifa World Cup 2026 ticket confusion deepens after FIFA emails omit sales window
FIFA sent some fans an unexpected email offering an "exclusive additional chance to purchase" tickets to the Fifa World Cup 2026, but the message left the 48-hour sales window blank — stirring hours of confusion before follow-up emails supplied time slots later that day.
Fifa World Cup 2026: unexpected sales windows and missing times
The first round of messages landed around 9 a. m. ET on Tuesday and told recipients their "exclusive ticket window" would open this week. The email included the sentence "Your exclusive 48-hour access window(s) will start at: " followed by a blank space. A link in that initial message led users to a page saying the Web Shop Portal had closed on 22 February 2026 and would reopen on 2 April 2026.
For hours, fans had no clear timing. Around 2 p. m. ET some recipients then received amended emails that did include a time slot, in some cases specifying Wednesday, Feb. 25 with the earliest slots beginning at 11 a. m. ET. The amended messages told unsuccessful applicants to the Random Selection Draw they had been "granted exclusive access to a dedicated ticket window with single-match tickets in Host City(ies) that you applied for. "
Who got the emails and which cities were named
The follow-up messages went to people who had entered the Random Selection Draw but did not win. FIFA said a "defined group of applicants" had been selected "in order to maximise fairness and acknowledge fans who have already demonstrated strong interest in the tournament, " without providing specific selection criteria.
The amended emails specified cities in some cases — Dallas, Philadelphia, Kansas City and Guadalajara were named — and fans also reported receiving time slots for Boston, Toronto, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Applicants who had sought tickets for Miami and New York New Jersey said they did not receive the afternoon time-slot emails. FIFA did not identify which matches, ticket categories or prices would be available in the window.
Ticket demand and prices remain a separate headache
The ticketing scramble follows a Random Selection Draw that drew massive demand. FIFA has said there were more than 500 million ticket requests in that draw, and it previously described the next and last sales opportunity as coming in April. A spokesperson confirmed that a limited number of additional single-match tickets had become available following the conclusion of the Random Selection Draw.
At the same time, resale and secondary-market costs are putting many matches out of reach. For fans hoping to see a round-of-16 match in Houston, the cheapest resale seats listed on SeatGeek were already going for more than $700 each. FIFA did make a small share of $60 entry-level tickets available; those low-price seats represented 1. 6% of total World Cup tickets.
Fans took to social platforms and messaging groups to share screenshots and ask what had gone wrong after the blank-window emails. The staggered messages offered hope to supporters who feared matches in cities such as Dallas and Kansas City were sold out, but left many questions unanswered about which specific games or price categories would be offered.
FIFA's Web Shop Portal is scheduled to reopen on 2 April 2026, and organizers had previously said another last-minute sale was expected in April. That reopening and the planned April sale are the next confirmed milestones for fans still seeking seats for the tournament.
