President Donald Trump has taken to Twitter to complain about the astronomical price of tickets for the 2026 World Cup, saying he would not pay the estimated $1,000 to see the United States men’s national team open against Paraguay next month.
In an exclusive interview with the New York Post, Trump said he was shocked to learn the cost of hosting the June 12 match at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. I didn’t know that number. “I’d like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you,” Trump stated . The president’s comments were made just hours after FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the price scheme in a public appearance at a conference in Beverly Hills.
The controversy surrounds the steep cost of attending the tournament, which Infantino has justified by pointing to market dynamics in the United States. ‘We are in the market that has the most developed entertainment in the world, so we have to apply market rates’, Infantino said, pointing out that it is hard to go to a college game in the U.S. for less than $300. He further suggested that because of the fact that the U.S. permits ticket resale, charging too little will just have scalpers make huge markups.
Data reveals the average price of a ticket to the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium has increased to over $13,000, compared with about $1,600 for the 2022 title match in Qatar. Prices on secondary markets have gone even higher, with claims of four final tickets being sold for as much as $2.3 million on an approved FIFA resale platform.
Trump, who helped get the tournament for the United States during his first term, said he was disappointed the exorbitant fees could keep his working-class voters from attending. “I’d be disappointed if the people from Queens and Brooklyn and all the people that love Donald Trump couldn’t go,” he said. “I’d like to be able to have the people that voted for me to be able to go”
“I haven’t seen that but I would have to look at it,” the president said. His government may look into the problem of price. Trump, while criticizing the individual ticket pricing, acknowledged the tournament’s tremendous commercial success, adding that FIFA has sold some five million tickets and has broken “every record in the book.”
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