Overview
- FIFA reports more than 150 million ticket requests from over 200 countries halfway through the current sales window, which runs from December 11 to January 13 with distribution by random draw.
- Responding to price backlash, FIFA introduced a lower-priced “basisrang” for loyal fans, limited to 10% of each team’s 8% fan-block allocation per match.
- Fan groups, including Football Supporters Europe, welcome the gesture yet criticize the very small share of reduced-price seats; Germany’s group-stage allocations in the basisrang are 581 vs Curaçao, 395 vs Ivory Coast and 632 vs Ecuador.
- The 2026 tournament expands to 48 teams and 104 matches with an added round of 32, staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
- Germany opens on June 14 in Houston against Curaçao at 19:00 CET, with 60 matches free-to-air on ARD/ZDF in Germany and 44 games exclusive to pay-TV provider MagentaTV.