World Cup Lawsuit: NY and NJ Subpoena FIFA Over Tickets

The FIFA World Cup ticket lawsuit activity now underway is not yet a lawsuit in court. On May 27, 2026, the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey jointly subpoenaed FIFA, opening a formal investigation into whether the soccer governing body misled buyers about seat locations and used pricing tactics that pushed costs to historic highs.¹ The probe focuses on the eight matches at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, including the July 19, 2026 final. Private class-action suits are possible after the tournament, but as of mid-2026 none has been filed.²

What the Attorneys General Are Investigating

New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport are demanding internal FIFA documents on how prices were set, how seating categories were defined and marketed, and how tickets were allocated across matches.¹ Two complaints sit at the center of the inquiry: that FIFA altered stadium seating maps after fans had paid, and that its dynamic pricing drove costs beyond anything previous tournaments had charged.

Davenport accused FIFA of turning ticket buying “into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices.”³ James said New Yorkers “deserve a fair shot at affordable tickets” and that “no one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats.”⁴ The New York Attorney General’s office is working with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, which has flagged potential violations of the city’s Consumer Protection Law.¹ FIFA declined to comment on the subpoenas.⁵

The Seat-Switching Allegation

When FIFA began selling tickets in late 2025, buyers chose a general category rather than a specific seat. FIFA assigned exact seats months later, in April 2026. By then, the stadium maps had changed. FIFA had carved out new premium “Front Category” zones within existing sections, reserving the best seats in each tier for hospitality packages or for resale at significantly higher prices.⁶

Many fans who had bought Category 1 tickets ended up behind the goals or far from the field, and some received seats that effectively belonged to Category 2 despite paying Category 1 prices.¹ FIFA’s Ticket Terms of Use state that seating maps are “for guidance purposes only” and allow the organization to change seat locations at any time, provided the new seat is of “comparable or better value.”⁷ California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who sent his own inquiry letter on May 13, 2026, argued that organizations cannot rely on fine print “that a reasonable consumer would not have reviewed or understood” to justify misleading conduct.⁸

The Pricing Allegation

2026 is the first World Cup to use dynamic pricing, with ticket costs that rise and fall based on demand. Between October 2025 and April 2026, FIFA raised prices in at least one category for 95 of the 104 scheduled matches, with an average increase of roughly 34 percent across the three main tiers.³

Category 1 seats for the MetLife final were originally listed at $6,730 in October 2025. By April 2026 that price had reached $10,990, and FIFA later introduced a “Front Category 1” tier priced above $30,000.² The most expensive ticket to the 2022 final in Qatar cost approximately $1,600. Across the tournament, every category for every match now costs more than double the 2022 equivalent.⁶

FIFA promoted a $60 “Supporter Entry” tier available for all 104 matches, but the European consumer complaint filed in March 2026 alleged the lowest-price inventory was exhausted before the general public sale even began.⁹ FIFA President Gianni Infantino has defended the pricing by saying the organization is “applying market rates” in a country where professional and college sports routinely charge hundreds of dollars for entry.³

Other Practices Drawing Scrutiny

Several other parts of FIFA’s sales operation are feeding the investigations:

FIFA launched its own resale platform without price caps and charges a 15 percent fee to both the buyer and the seller, totaling 30 percent per transaction. Previous World Cups capped resale fees at 10 percent.¹⁰
Multiple sales phases suffered hours-long digital queues, erroneous confirmation emails, and glitches that separated families who had bought seats together.⁶
FIFA sold blockchain-based “Right to Buy” tokens through its crypto partner Modex, priced between roughly $279 and $3,999, that gave holders the right to later purchase tickets at full price. Many buyers said they felt scammed after learning 70 percent of the allocated tickets were in the most expensive Category 1 tier, and secondary token prices subsequently cratered.¹¹
Boston University economics professor Florian Ederer alleged FIFA was funneling unsold tickets to third-party platforms like SeatGeek at prices below its own official listings. SeatGeek denied any partnership or distribution agreement with FIFA.¹²

Parallel Actions in California and Europe

Bonta’s May 13 letter in California focused on matches at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, alleging FIFA sold tickets based on specific seating zones depicted on stadium maps and then changed the categorizations before assigning seats. The letter cited California’s false advertising and unfair business practices statutes and set a response deadline of May 29, 2026. No public response has been reported.¹³

In Europe, Football Supporters Europe and Euroconsumers filed a complaint with the European Commission on March 24, 2026, alleging FIFA abused its monopoly over World Cup ticket sales under EU competition law. They asked the Commission to order FIFA to freeze prices at December 2025 levels and publish real-time inventory data.⁹ Nearly 70 House Democrats also sent Infantino a letter on March 10, 2026, calling the dynamic pricing “financially exclusionary,” but Congress has no subpoena authority in this matter and the letter requested voluntary action.¹⁴

What Ticket Buyers Can Do

New York residents who paid for tickets they have not received, or who received seats materially different from what they bought, can file complaints through the New York Attorney General’s online portal. The office has specifically asked affected consumers to come forward as part of the active investigation.¹ California complaints go through Bonta’s office, which is pursuing its own parallel inquiry. For buyers outside those jurisdictions, no state-level consumer channel for this matter has been publicly identified.

What Happens Next

The New York and New Jersey probe is in its early stages. No enforcement actions, hearings, or settlements have been reported, and FIFA has not publicly responded to any of the state-level probes or the European complaint.⁶ Legal observers quoted by NPR said it is effectively impossible for FIFA to overhaul its sales process before the June 11 kickoff, but the organization could face significant long-term liability, including potential class-action lawsuits, once the tournament ends.² Despite FIFA’s earlier claims that every match was sold out, thousands of tickets for several games remained available through official and resale channels as of early June 2026.

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NY Attorney General. Attorney General James and Attorney General Davenport Subpoena FIFA Over World Cup Ticket Practices
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NPR. 2026 World Cup FIFA Ticket Prices
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ESPN. New Jersey and New York Subpoena FIFA Over World Cup Tickets
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CNN. New York and New Jersey Subpoena FIFA Over World Cup Ticket Sales
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Wall Street Journal. FIFA Subpoenaed in World Cup Ticketing Probe
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The Athletic. World Cup Ticket Prices Saga and Controversy
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The Athletic. FIFA World Cup Tickets California Attorney General Letter
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California Attorney General. Letter to FIFA Regarding World Cup Ticketing
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Football Supporters Europe. Joint Statement: FSE and Euroconsumers File Complaint to the European Commission Against FIFA
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Sports Illustrated. Unprecedented 2026 World Cup Ticket Prices and Accusations Against FIFA
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The Athletic. World Cup USMNT FIFA Collect RTB
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Yahoo Sports. FIFA Allegedly Using Third Party Resale Platforms
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California Attorney General. Attorney General Bonta Seeks Answers From FIFA Regarding Potentially Misleading Ticketing Practices
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The Athletic. USA Politicians Letter to FIFA on World Cup Ticket Prices and Funding