World Cup fans fume as costly tickets bought through resale sites fall through

Attending the 2026 World Cup is costly.

But for some, it has proved far more costly than others.

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FIFA‘s official ticketing site isn’t the only destination where fans can purchase tickets to watch the summer tournament from, with secondary markets like StubHub offering fans who perhaps initially missed out on sale windows a chance to attend games, albeit at a premium.

However, some fans have run into issues with the resellers that have left them ticketless.

Take that of Bina Ramroop, who spent $485 per ticket to take her grandson to see Spain’s opening World Cup group stage game against Cape Verde for his 13th birthday.

Having purchased the tickets on StubHub, she was stunned to learn that the tickets were unable to be transferred from the original seller to the FIFA ticketing app, leaving her party stuck outside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

She spent hours prior to kick-off going back and forth with representatives from StubHub on the phone, and FIFA on-site.

Only after hearing the roars of the crowds signalling the match had begun did she accept the offer of a refund.

“I didn’t want a refund, I didn’t want my money back,” Ramroop said, via AP. “I wanted to go to the game.”

Ramroop spoke later of how her grandson tried to cheer her up, with the game turning out to be a scoreless draw, although it was still one of the most shocking results of the first round of group stage matches.

“He’s telling me, ‘Grandma, it’s OK, Grandma.’ And he’s trying to console me,” Ramroop said the next day.

But Ramroop’s ticketing incident wasn’t an isolated one.

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One fan who showed up to SoFi Stadium – one of the best venues on offer – on Monday to watch Iran take on New Zealand was not admitted entry after StubHub redirected her to the FIFA ticketing website, which said the tickets were unavailable for download.

The fan named Kimberly Robeson said to NBC4 Los Angeles at the time, “We’re a little bit disappointed. I’m neutral. I’m LA. Wanted to see Iran and New Zealand, and our tickets are not downloading.

“We bought them and they’re there, but we cannot download that because there’s a problem, supposedly, with a secondary site, the secondary site that will download the StubHub ticket.”

Like Ramroop, Robeson was also offered a refund as per StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee.

“We have some really great seats in there,” she said. “We’re very disappointed because, I mean, this is our hometown and how many opportunities do you get to see, you know, the World Cup here?”

Fans all across the United States, Mexico and Canada have taken to social media to voice their frustrations after having suffered similar experiences which has left them disheartened.

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From tickets that were cancelled last minute to those that never arrived, the vast majority of issues appear to come from those who purchased off of StubHub.

Some fans have also noted similar issues with other industry competitors such as Vivid Seats and SeatGeek.

The root cause of why there are problems getting tickets transferred between secondary markets and FIFA’s ticketing system is unknown, though some cases are though to stem from a technical glitch during the transfer progress.

In order to curb counterfeit tickets and scalping, FIFA deploys a “closed” mobile ticketing system, therefore only allowing fans to access official World Cup tickets directly from them.

The third-party resellers can still list the tickets, but the seller is required to initiate the transfer hours prior to the match, and then sites like that of StubHub can redirect the buyers to FIFA’s official portal to download the tickets for entry to the match.

Having faced such a backlash as a result, StubHub did release a statement, in which they shifted blame onto having moved over to a new app.

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“Many of the issues fans are facing trace back to the event organizer’s poor technology infrastructure, newly-announced transfer restrictions, and a new app that was launched just a month ago ahead of such a major event,” the statement read.

“All of these decisions by the event organizer have created significant confusion and delays for fans.”

FIFA did not comment on the specific incidents, but reaffirmed that, “FIFA.com/tickets is the official ticket sales channel for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

“FIFA can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms.”

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