The resale price of tickets to 2026 World Cup games involving Portugal and Argentina jumped by an average of nearly 300 per cent in the hours after Friday’s World Cup draw and Saturday’s schedule release.

Before Friday, with matchups not yet known, the “get-in price” — the cost of the cheapest ticket — for the June 27 match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, was less than $400, according to ticketdata.com, a site that tracks resale prices.

On Saturday afternoon, less than an hour after FIFA announced that the game would be Portugal vs Colombia, the get-in price spiked above $2,000. Hours later, it nearly hit $3,000, then settled in around $2,200. It is now the fourth-most expensive ticket of the tournament, behind only the World Cup final and semifinals, on the secondary market.

The second-biggest leap was for Brazil vs. Scotland, also in Miami Gardens. Three of the next four largest jumps were for Argentina’s three group games — against Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, then Austria and Jordan at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The skyrocketing prices, of course, are driven in part by Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who will almost certainly be playing in their sixth and final World Cup. They are by far the most popular soccer players in America.

But they weren’t, and aren’t, the only attractions.

Resale prices rose for around 78 of the World Cup’s 91 games in the United States and Canada, according to ticketdata.com, which pulls from popular resale sites like StubHub and SeatGeek, its operator told The Athletic (data is unavailable for the 13 games in Mexico, where laws restrict the resale of tickets; in the U.S. and Canada, the market is relatively unregulated).

The 10 biggest increases for group games, from Thursday to Sunday afternoon, were for:

Colombia vs. Portugal in Miami Gardens, Fla. ($2,189, up 514 per cent since Thursday)
Scotland vs. Brazil in Miami Gardens, Fla. ($1474, up 338 per cent)
Argentina vs. Algeria in Kansas City ($968, up 307 per cent)
Argentina vs. Austria in Arlington, Tex. ($1,327, up 252 per cent)
Portugal vs. Intercontinental Playoff 1 in Houston ($1,003, up 241 per cent)
Jordan vs. Argentina in Arlington, Tex. ($1,158, up 227 per cent)
Brazil vs. Haiti in Philadelphia ($1,058, up 210 per cent)
Ecuador vs. Germany in East Rutherford, N.J. ($1,064, up 196 per cent)
Portugal vs. Uzbekistan in Houston ($781, up 188 per cent)
England vs. Croatia in Arlington, Tex. ($997, up 187 per cent)

FIFA president Gianni Infantino led the World Cup draw on Friday (Jia Haocheng – Pool/Getty Images)

Even knockout-round prices rose as potential paths took shape, and as fans speculated on which teams would end up where after the group stage.

The round-of-32 match at Hard Rock Stadium on July 3, which could pit Argentina (as the likely winner of Group J) against either Uruguay or Spain (as the runner-up from Group H), saw the cheapest ticket available go from less than $500 earlier in the week to over $1,500 on Saturday.

Beyond the contenders, the team driving the most demand seemed to be Scotland. The Scots will be making their first men’s World Cup appearance since 1998. In addition to their showdown with Brazil, their games against Morocco and Haiti saw prices more than double between Thursday and Sunday.

At the other end of the spectrum, around a dozen matchups caused prices to decrease from earlier in the week, when participating teams weren’t known. The June 27 match in Atlanta between Uzbekistan and an intercontinental playoff winner saw the get-in price dip below $200 — seemingly the first time that has happened for any 2026 World Cup match since ticket sales began in October.

The least-attractive games, per resale prices as of Sunday afternoon, were:

Uzbekistan vs. Intercontinental Playoff 1 in Atlanta ($197, down 42 per cent from Thursday)
Cabo Verde vs. Saudi Arabia in Houston ($203, down 37 per cent)
Algeria vs. Austria in Kansas City ($217, down 27 per cent)
Curaçao vs. Ivory Coast in Philadelphia ($255, down 20 per cent)
South Africa vs. European Playoff D in Atlanta ($261, down 9 per cent)
Jordan vs. Algeria in Santa Clara, Calif. ($279, down 13 per cent)
Austria vs. Jordan in Santa Clara, Calif. ($295, down 8 per cent)
Uruguay vs. Cabo Verde in Miami Gardens, Fla. ($314, down 21 per cent)
New Zealand vs. Egypt in Vancouver ($332, down 8 per cent)
Senegal vs. Intercontinental Playoff 2 in Toronto ($339, down 34 per cent)

The MetLife Stadium will host the World Cup final in 2026 (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

The prices, to be clear, are not FIFA’s. They are set by sellers who previously bought the tickets, either on the secondary market or during one of FIFA’s two early sales phases.

FIFA is preparing for the third ticket lottery phase, which opens Thursday, December 11. Per its “variable pricing” strategy, also known as dynamic pricing, it will adjust prices according to demand.

In the November sales phase, before the World Cup draw, FIFA hiked prices based on the demand it observed in October.

The new prices — which, so far, have been lower than resale prices but multiples higher than at any previous World Cup — should be set by Thursday. Between then and January 13, fans will be able to go to FIFA’s ticketing website, sign up for a ‘FIFA ID’, and apply for tickets to specific matches — in a specific ticket category, for a specific price. FIFA will then randomly select a minority of applicants in February, grant them some or all of the tickets they requested, and charge them the listed price.

No priority or advantage will be given to people who apply earlier or later in the December 11-January 13 window, FIFA says.