Crowd-Size Obsessed Trump Faces Embarrassing World Cup Problem
Donald Trump and his top ally, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, are set to be humiliated as thousands of seats remain unsold for the World Cup.
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Analysis by the Financial Times found that almost 180,000 tickets for the tournament, which kicks off on Thursday, are still available on FIFA’s official resale portals. FIFA also has around 15,000 tickets for group-stage matches unsold on its website.
The extortionate prices of tickets for some World Cup group-stage games, which run into the thousands of dollars, have also caused the median resale ticket price to fall by as much as 20 percent as scalpers grow increasingly desperate to sell.
Scenes of thousands of empty seats in stadiums across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico could prove particularly embarrassing for the crowd-size-obsessed Trump.
Throughout his political career, Trump has desperately tried to prove his popularity by citing crowd sizes at his rallies and other public events. This obsession dates back to his 2017 inauguration, which the president claimed had the highest-ever attendance for such an event despite photos proving otherwise.
Trump has also frequently inflated the size of the crowds at his political rallies, sometimes by tens of thousands of people.
The FT analysis found that the U.S., in particular, is struggling to sell tickets.
There are still around 4,400 tickets available on the resale portal for the USA’s opening match against Paraguay on June 13 at Los Angeles Stadium.
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Even with price cuts, the median resale ticket for the game is still more than $800 on official resale portals. The cheapest remaining tickets directly from FIFA cost an eye-watering $1,120.
For the first time, FIFA has used so-called “variable pricing”—also known as dynamic pricing, in which ticket prices rise or fall based on demand—at a World Cup.
This has seen prices for some tickets, such as Thursday’s World Cup opener between Mexico and South Africa at the iconic Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, skyrocket to as much as $3,000.
Even tickets for lower-profile games in the 48-team tournament still cost at least $140. As noted by The Athletic, the ticket price for any game at any stage of the 2026 World Cup is higher than the equivalent ticket at any previous tournament.
Last month, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and New York Attorney General Letitia James launched an investigation into FIFA’s ticketing practices for the upcoming World Cup, including its use of variable pricing.
Davenport’s office noted that between October 2025 and April 2026, FIFA raised ticket prices for more than 90 of the tournament’s 104 matches by an average of 34 percent. The investigation will examine whether and how “FIFA’s ticket release schedule, public statements, and other conduct may have impacted these prices.”
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The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and FIFA for comment.
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