U.S. opening – With only days left before the U.S. faces Paraguay at SoFi Stadium, FIFA’s ticketing site still shows 132 tickets left. Resale markets list thousands more, and ticketing analysts point to FIFA’s steep prices—so high even President Trump said he wouldn’t pay th
When the U.S. men’s national team steps onto the field against Paraguay, it’s supposed to feel like one of those must-attend moments the World Cup is famous for. But with only a few days remaining before kickoff, the opening match is still not sold out.
The game is set for Friday at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. California. which will be renamed Los Angeles Stadium for the tournament. FIFA’s ticketing website still shows 132 tickets left to sell. The number shifts over time. but the lack of a clean sellout stands out—especially alongside what’s visible everywhere else.
Resale platforms such as StubHub and SeatGeek, as well as FIFA’s own marketplace, are listing thousands of tickets for the same matchup.
The contrast shows up again on the very same day for Canada’s opening match against Bosnia Herzegovina in Toronto. FIFA’s site still shows 226 tickets left, and resale markets also show a high volume of tickets available.
That is unusual for opening matches. Traditionally, they’re among the hardest to get tickets in the tournament.
This year is being staged across three U.S.-hosted countries—United States, Canada and Mexico. Yet only Mexico’s opening match against South Africa on Thursday appears to be virtually sold out, setting up a wide split in demand right from the start.
Ticketing experts widely agree on what’s driving the difference: price.
FIFA dramatically increased prices for the tournament, particularly for high-profile games. The most expensive regular seats for the U.S. opener against Paraguay are priced at $2,735—higher than the final cost for the 2022 World Cup final—while the cheapest are listed at $1,120.
Even President Trump weighed in publicly, saying he wouldn’t pay those prices. “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you,” Trump told the New York Post in a recent interview.
The other U.S. matches have far fewer tickets available, but the gap is tied directly to pricing: those games have prices well below the ones for the opening match.
And the pricing pressure isn’t just on the high end. According to Ticketdata. which tracks prices across the resale platforms. the cheapest pair of tickets for the opening match for the U.S. and Canada was $951 as of Monday morning. In FIFA’s resale platform, tickets were available for as low as $690.
Across the wider 104-match tournament. plenty of seats remain for other games as well—even with FIFA President Gianni Infantino claiming that every match is “already sold out.” The disconnect appears most stark for less prominent matchups. The Jordan against Algeria match, for example, still had hundreds of unsold seats listed on FIFA’s website.
For games that draw bigger global attention—such as Argentina and Portugal—the picture looks different. Those matchups show much higher demand, with many of them looking largely sold out.
Whether the U.S. and Canada opening matches ultimately sell out is difficult to answer. FIFA has kept how many tickets it has sold—and how many are left—closely guarded, making it nearly impossible to estimate where the numbers truly end up.
And, like other teams, FIFA can also sell tickets through additional platforms including third-party marketplaces such as SeatGeek, which can further blur how many seats remain when customers compare listings.
Still, FIFA and organizers are counting on something that’s common in big events: a last-minute rush. The hope is that excitement will spike as the tournament begins—and that the opening matches. along with games like Jordan against Algeria that currently look far from sold out. will draw buyers in the final days.
Ben Shields, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management, said perceptions of the tournament have been shaped by the cost of both tickets and travel for an event taking place across an entire continent. “That does not seem to sit well with many.”
But he also suggested the mood could shift once the matches start. “The hope or bet — for FIFA is that once the matches start — and the greatest players in the world compete for the most prestigious prize of them all. the sport as business lens will fade into the background and the World Cup will be seen and experienced as the enduring global institution that it is. ” Shields said. “We shall see.”.
World Cup U.S. vs Paraguay tickets FIFA SoFi Stadium Los Angeles Stadium ticket prices StubHub SeatGeek Ticketdata Gianni Infantino Ben Shields