Ticket Resale Failures
Fans Face World Cup Ticket Trouble: Resale Purchases Often Canceled or Undelivered
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Thousands of World Cup fans have been left locked out of stadiums after resale tickets purchased through sites like StubHub, SeatGeek, and Vivid Seats failed to transfer at the gate. Associated Press reports fans in Atlanta, Dallas, and New Jersey were turned away — some losing thousands of dollars in non-refundable flights and hotels in the process.
The crisis has sparked a wave of complaints, state-level subpoenas, and a growing blame war between FIFA and the resale industry. StubHub — the biggest name drawing complaints — pointed the finger squarely at FIFA, calling its ticketing technology "poor" and its transfer restrictions a last-minute surprise.
Tickets Bought, Games Missed, Money Gone
Bina Ramroop broke down in tears when she learned the World Cup tickets she bought for her grandson's 13th birthday would never arrive, Associated Press reported. She is one of many fans who bought through third-party resale sites only to find their tickets invalid or simply absent at the turnstile. Some fans reported spending hours on hold trying to sort out problems between FIFA's ticketing system and outside platforms.
The fallout goes beyond the ticket price. Fans like Kelly Mongillo lost more than $2,000 in travel costs — flights and hotels that were booked and non-refundable — after being turned away at the gate. StubHub's "FanProtect Guarantee" covers only the ticket price, not those extra expenses, leaving many buyers with no meaningful safety net.
FIFA's 30% Fee and the App No One Could Use
FIFA has urged fans to buy resale tickets only through its own official marketplace. But that platform charges a steep 30% surcharge — 15% each from buyer and seller — on every resale transaction. By comparison, the 2022 Qatar World Cup capped resale fees at just 5% under national law. Many fans turned to StubHub and rivals simply because prices were lower and the sites were easier to use.
A key technical problem was FIFA's new "FWC2026 Mobile Tickets App," launched just weeks before the tournament began. Associated Press reported that this late rollout broke the transfer chain between third-party resale sites and FIFA's system. Fans on Reddit called the app "dogsh*t" and said FIFA's rushed launch is what caused valid purchases to fail. Only about 450 of MetLife Stadium's 82,500 seats — roughly 0.54% — were priced at the "affordable" $60 tier.
StubHub Blames FIFA; Sellers Who Never Had Tickets
StubHub spokesperson Jack Sterne blamed FIFA's "poor technology infrastructure" and its newly announced transfer restrictions for the wave of failed deliveries, according to Associated Press. SeatGeek denied having a backroom deal with FIFA and called itself a "trusted marketplace," per Newsweek. FIFA, for its part, says any ticket bought outside its own site is "unofficial" and carries inherent risk of being invalid.
Experts point to another culprit: "speculative sellers." These are people who list tickets they don't actually own, hoping to buy them cheaper later and pocket the difference. When World Cup prices surged after the tournament kicked off, those sellers couldn't fill orders without taking a big loss — so they simply canceled. StubHub charges sellers a 200% penalty for failing to deliver, but that money does not reach stranded fans in time to get them into the game.
Attorneys General and Congress Push Back Hard
State officials have not waited for the tournament to end. Attorneys General from California, New York, and New Jersey issued letters and subpoenas to FIFA between May 13 and 27, 2026. New York AG Letitia James targeted what investigators called "fake scarcity" and "manipulated" pricing. California AG Rob Bonta demanded answers on what he described as "potentially misleading ticketing practices" — specifically, that fans who paid top dollar for "Category 1" seats often ended up in corner sections, not the midfield lower-bowl seats shown in promotional maps.
On the legislative front, the National Independent Venue Association has used the World Cup mess to push the U.S. Congress toward the "Fans First Act," a bill that would ban speculative ticket sales outright. FIFA President Gianni Infantino, meanwhile, brushed off concerns, saying demand for tickets was "unprecedented by a factor of 10 or more." With knockout-round ticket prices projected to triple — some seats already listed at $11,000 — more chaos may be ahead.
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