According to the latest announcement, the first round of ticket sales will be through a Visa presale draw, or lottery, open exclusively to Visa cardholders. Visa-card-holding fans need to enter the lottery between 11 AM ET on Wednesday, September 10, and 11 AM ET on Friday, September 19. As of now, there’s no announcement on what information you’ll need to provide at that time, but it’s likely there will be some verification to make sure you have a Visa card. If you don’t have a Visa card but want to participate in the first round of ticket sales, you can apply for one online, with approval and delivery usually taking between seven and 10 days.
A timeline of the first-round Visa draw. Photo: FIFA
Results will be announced starting September 29, with winners receiving a set date and time slot between October 1 and 21 in which they can buy tickets online.
About 1 million tickets will be distributed in this lottery, with group stage tickets starting at $60 (thhough tickets to the finals in New York City are expected to run upward of $6,000). However, FIFA is expected to use dynamic pricing, meaning costs could rise for more in-demand games. It won’t be until December 5 that we know which teams are playing where and when, so tickets will be cheapest before that, when buyers won’t yet know what teams they’ll see. Once the lineup is announced, dynamic pricing will likely cause ticket costs to rise, as fans compete to see the most popular teams.
FIFA has previously said it plans to sell about 6 million tickets between the 16 host cities, meaning about 15 percent will be distributed via this first lottery. It’s likely that further lotteries and open ticket sales will follow, but those details have yet to be announced. If you don’t want to take your chances with a lottery, there are other strategies for snagging World Cup tickets, with some tickets packages already available. 