The $11k World Cup final ticket - what we learned from first open sale

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World Cup tickets were put on open sale for the first time on Wednesday

The first open sale of tickets for the 2026 World Cup showed Fifa is charging up to $10,990 (£8,333) to be at the final.

It is thought to be the most expensive ever general admission to a football match, based on box office prices rather than the resale market.

In its World Cup bid book, the US, Canada and Mexico said tickets to the final would cost a maximum of $1,550 (£1,174).

By the time tickets went on sale to members of each country's official supporters' club in December, the most expensive was listed at $8,680 (£6,581).

Prices then went up again when Wednesday's final sale period began.

Tickets for the Qatar World Cup final in 2022 cost the equivalent of $1,604 (£1,214) for the top-priced seat.

Establishing the actual cost of tickets for this summer's tournament is difficult as Fifa has never released its pricing structures.

It is also using a version of dynamic pricing, whereby prices change at the start of each sales point depending on past demand.

Late last year the cost of the initial ticket releases was described as a "monumental betrayal". In December, Fifa announced a small number of $60 (£45) tickets.

On Wednesday, tickets were put on open sale for the first time - and gave another glimpse at what is being charged by tournament organisers.

What prices have been observed for the final

It is impossible to assess the overall ticket pricing with no information on the prices, or the volume available in each category.

Going through the Fifa ticketing website and seeing what is still available and what is being charged gives a good indication. However, that does not confirm if there are either more expensive tickets still, or if more were available in more affordable categories.

From what has been observed, ticket prices for the World Cup final increased by as much as 38% in the open sale compared to December's release.

Apart from the $10,990 (£8,333) category one ticket:

• Category two was up 32.78% from $5,575 (£4,227) to $7,380 (£5,596).

• Category three increased 38.23% from $4,185 (£3,173) to $5,785 (£4,386).

Fifa also gave no advanced notice of which games would be available, or at what prices, as the "last-minute sales" period began.

Those who did get through found that prices had gone up for the most in-demand fixtures - including the top teams and other key knockout games.

Tickets on the official resale platform, which reopened on Thursday, are being priced even higher.

One seller was seeking $82,780 (£62,646) for one ticket.

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Why are they so expensive?

What we learned when we joined the queue

BBC Sport joined the queue for World Cup tickets alongside the supporters on Wednesday at about 15:20 BST.

A holding message was in place, and at 16:00 this changed to a red circle with the message: "Almost there…"

By 17:00 a countdown clock had appeared. We were two minutes from the front when the time suddenly jumped back up to 15 minutes.

When we did gain access, we experienced the same technical glitch as thousands of fans.

Supporters who logged on early were wrongly directed into a queue for "PMA tickets", reserved for fans of this week's play-off winners.

Once through, users were sent to a page where a code was required to open up a sale for those fixtures.

By the time the mistake was realised, those supporters were forced to start again at the back of the correct virtual line. Any chance of securing a ticket for one of the more attractive matches had gone.

Fifa did not provide a reason for the error but said that by 17:00 the links were working properly.

Once back in the queue it took six hours and 14 minutes to be granted access to the ticket page.

Of the 72 group games, 35 matches were listed with tickets available - but there was no allocation for the England or Scotland games, or any of the knockout matches, when we initially made it through.

With the exception of the host nations, only one match of the top-10 seeded countries, the Netherlands, was available to buy.

Prices ranged from $140 (£106) to $2,985 (£2,261). The average price of those displayed was $358 (£271).

The most expensive group stage match seen was the first of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa at $2,985 (£2,261), with only a tiny proportion of the 87,000 capacity available.

Additionally, we were able to view corporate hospitality packages, including one for England v Panama which was $124,800 (£94,444) for a luxury suite with 24 match tickets, food and drink - $5,200 (£3,935) per person.

The availability of games appears to be changing all the time, and Fifa has indicated new tickets could be released for any game right up to kick-off.

By 08:00 on Thursday, 13 games were still showing - though six of these only had wheelchair companion tickets, which should not be sold to the general public.

Controversially, Fifa has not made free tickets available to the assistants of fans using wheelchairs. Tickets must be bought at full price and they may not be situated next to each other.

The USA's opening game against Paraguay on 13 June had the most tickets still on sale, with 1,406 category one tickets priced at $2,735 (£2,072).

Canada's first match against Bosnia-Herzegovina was the only other match with relatively good supply - 846 category one tickets still on sale at a cost of $2,240 (£1,697).

Resale site opens with ticket priced more than $82k

Fifa's resale platform reopened on Thursday, and it was always expected to bring even higher prices for games in the US or Canada.

Mexican law, meanwhile, prevents tickets being resold above face value.

Anyone who has bought a ticket can offer it for sale at any price they want.

These are asking prices and do not indicate what is actually being paid.

BBC Sport accessed the sale shortly after it went live and found the most expensive ticket for the final was listed at $82,780 (£62,646), with the cheapest $27,000 (£20,400).

For England's opening game against Croatia, a $60 (£45) ticket was on the site for $1,499 (£1,133). A ticket with the face value of $445 (£336) was priced at $6,000 (£4,533).

Fifa charges both buyer and seller a 15% fee on top of this.

Prof Mark James, who works in sports law at Manchester Metropolitan University, said Fifa could have capped prices with the tournament operating under New York State law.

"The state law simply says no unauthorised resales," James said. "Fifa could have placed a resale cap of face value.

"Or as it usually works, face value plus accompanying fees.

"Most tournaments are now trying to have some sort of official platform where the tickets can be bought and sold, or transferred or exchanged, or you can get a refund sometimes.

"But this is a huge number of games in big stadiums. There's not been anything of this scale in the past."

'Yet another stain on Fifa's ticketing sales'

Fifa's handling of the ticket sales process has caused confusion and controversy.

With no pricing structure and scant information published in advance of sales windows, supporters have found it difficult to plan for the World Cup.

"It seems to be top secret," Thomas Concannon, who leads the the Football Supporters' Association's fans' embassy for England away games, told BBC Sport.

"Supporters just don't know where they stand."

The situation was no different on Wednesday, with fans given no details of the "last-minute sales" and sent into incorrect ticket queues.

"It's just yet another stain on Fifa's ticketing sales," Concannon said. "It's been a common theme for the entire tournament."

Concannon said that the cost of attending the World Cup will be "well into the thousands, if not over £10,000" for just a few games when all costs are taken into account.

"Sometimes in your life, you only get one opportunity to be able to go to a World Cup," he said.

"For many, this was their opportunity and they just won't be able to afford to go."

Scotland fan Allan Ross from Stewarton in Ayrshire, who failed to get tickets on Wednesday, says he will not try again and will treat the trip to the US as a holiday.

Allan encountered many problems with the queueing system and trying to add tickets.

"I was going to go back on again and I thought, you know, I want my holiday to be a good holiday," he said. "I want to go across here and be in the right frame of mind to enjoy it.

"I'm going for the atmosphere, I'm going for a holiday. I don't want to go across there feeling bitter about Fifa.

"It's the definition of madness, so I'm not going to chase any more."