BEVERLY HILLS — FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the pricing of tickets for the 2026 World Cup final during remarks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday. Infantino addressed listings on FIFA's resale marketplace that have advertised seats for the July 19 final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for as much as $2.3 million each.

"If some people put on the resale market, some tickets for the final at $2m, number one it doesn't mean that the tickets cost $2m. And number two it doesn't mean that somebody will buy these tickets. And if somebody buys a ticket for the final for $2m I will personally bring him a hotdog and a Coke to make sure that he has a great experience," Infantino said.

FIFA does not control asking prices on its resale site but takes a 15% purchase fee from buyers and a 15% resale fee from sellers. A ticket sold at $2.3 million would generate $690,000 for FIFA. On the FIFA Resale/Exchange Marketplace, tickets for the final ranged from $8,970 to $11,499,998.85, with the highest-priced listing for a seat four rows from the top of the upper deck.

"And as a matter of fact, even though some people are saying that the ticket prices we have are high, they still end up on the resale market at an even higher price, more than double of our price," he said. He also noted that 25% of tickets for the group phase were priced at under $300, and that FIFA received more than 500 million ticket requests for the 2026 tournament, compared with fewer than 50 million combined for the 2018 and 2022 editions.

FIFA tripled the price of its best available tickets to the final, making seats priced at $32,970 available for the July 19 match. Those seats were listed as Front Category 1 on FIFA's sales site. The previous highest price for Category 1 tickets was $10,990, up from $1,600 for the 2022 final.

Football Supporters Europe filed a lawsuit with the European Commission in March targeting FIFA over ticket prices, calling the pricing structure "extortionate" and a "monumental betrayal."

Tickets for the semi-final on July 14 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas were listed at $11,130, $4,330, $3,710 and $2,705, while seats for the July 15 semi-final at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta were priced at $10,635, $3,545 and $2,725. Seats remain available for most group-stage games, with tickets for the U.S. opener against Paraguay on June 12 at SoFi Stadium starting at $1,120 and going as high as $4,105.