FIFA subpoenaed over World Cup ticketing practices, pricing

The attorneys general of two Northeastern states issued subpoenas to FIFA on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the organization's World Cup ticketing practices.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a press release that their offices, along with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, are investigating whether fans were "misled about the locations of the seats" they were buying and whether FIFA's public statements about tickets inflated prices for the eight tournament matches at MetLife Stadium.

"New Yorkers have been waiting years for the World Cup to come to their backyard, and they deserve a fair shot at affordable tickets," James said in Wednesday's press release. "No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive."

Davenport added in a statement, "Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated. But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices -- all at the expense of consumers and hardworking New Jerseyans."

According to the press release, fans have alleged they were "misled about where the tickets they were purchasing would be located."

"For its initial ticket sales, FIFA's seat maps divided stadiums into four zones named Category 1 through Category 4, with Category 1 seats in the most desirable location. Yet after many fans had already bought tickets, FIFA created new zones, Front Categories 1 through 4, made up of the most desirable seats within each Category," the press release states. "Tickets in these Front Categories cost significantly more."

The release adds that fans who had purchased tickets prior to the addition of the new zones were allegedly "excluded from those seats and instead assigned less desirable seats, including seats far from the field or behind the goals."

According to the press release, some fans have also alleged they did not receive the tickets in the category for which they paid.

"These fans have reported that although they selected and paid for Category 1 tickets, which were the closest areas to the field, they were assigned seats further back in Category 2 areas," the release states.

The attorneys general said the investigation will also probe ticket prices for 2026 World Cup matches, which they said "have far exceeded the prices for any previous World Cup tournament," including investigating "whether and how FIFA's ticket release schedule, public statements, and other conduct may have impacted these prices."

The press release also alleged the governing body had used "'variable pricing' to adjust ticket prices based on demand," and as a result, tickets for some matches -- which were released in phases over the course of several months, according to the attorneys general -- had "skyrocketed" in price between October 2025 and April 2026.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino previously addressed the World Cup ticket prices while speaking at the World Sports Summit in Dubai in December, saying "the revenues that are generated from this are going back to the game all over the world."

"Without FIFA there would be no football in 150 countries in the world. There is football because, and thanks to, these revenues that we generate with and from the World Cup, which we reinvest, of course, all over the world," he said at the time.

Earlier in May, during an appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, Infantino addressed pricing concerns again, saying, "We have to look at the market. We are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world, so we have to apply market rates."

"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 our price," he continued, adding, "We have 25% of the group stage tickets which can be bought for less than $300."

A FIFA spokesperson addressed the seating map complaints in a statement to The Athletic in April, saying at the time that the "indicative category maps" were intended "to help fans understand where their seats could be located within a stadium."

"These maps were designed to provide guidance rather than the exact seat layout, and reflect the general extent of each ticket category within the stadium," the spokesperson said.

The 2026 World Cup is set to kick off across North America next month, with venues across the region hosting group stage and elimination games before the highly anticipated final match hosted by New York and New Jersey.

FIFA declined to comment on Wednesday's subpoenas when reached by ABC News.

President Donald Trump responded to concerns about World Cup costs during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, saying, "The World Cup is great. It's the most successful they've ever had ticket-wise -- they've never had anything that sold so quickly."

"It's turned out to be the most successful World Cup from the standpoint of what's happening than they've ever had," he added.