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October 2025 World Cup Digest
This edition covers:
Note: gmail occasionally cuts off the email version of the newsletter so if this occurs, you’ll want to click “Read Online” in the top right corner of the message.
Purchasing During Phase 1
Well September was…interesting! A bit of chaos and confusion with definitions of “household” and how it applies to FIFA’s limitations to applications and purchases for tickets and now we patiently await news of securing a time slot window for purchasing in Phase 1.
Here’s what we learned with the first phase of ticket sales.
My final draft of this newsletter was September 30th and at the time of publishing, I do NOT have a time slot yet 🫠
Currency for payments
CAD for Canadian citizens
MXD for Mexican citizens
USD for US Citizens and all other international residents
Need help and the standard form doesn’t cut it, here’s the phone numbers for FIFA Help desk
The notifications will come in phases and you will be given at least 48 hours notice…the biggest takeaway is to remain hopeful.
Honestly, check the insights I created after reading the “Official Rules” if you haven’t already.
Reusing this photo but it’s a good one! As I’ve said before, wishing you all luck but I’ll definitely be more gracious with the well wishes if I can secure my tickets first.
Did anyone here get a time slot and make purchases? Who has insight on the actual ticket prices as Oct 1 is the 1st chance to purchase?
Next Ticket Sales Windows
With the onslaught of ticket news just beginning, I created a brief overview of the ticket process thus far. It appears from the literature that there will be 4 phases for tickets on FIFA.com/tickets.
Phase 1 - Lottery - Visa Presale (now)
Not entirely sure when exactly it “ends”; word is “mid to late October”
BUT, one journalist confirms that FIFA will send everyone a “you failed” message if not granted a time slot.
Phase 2 - Lottery - General Sale
Applications: Oct 27 to 31
Purchases: November
Phase 3 - Lottery - Post Draw
December 5th is the Draw so…after this
Phase 4 - First Come, First Serve
2026…your last chance
This is when FIFA will open their Resale Platform as well
Source: FIFA’s Image found in this article
I Have Tickets, Now What
If you’re one of the fortunate souls who acquired tickets at this point or you’re wondering what to do next once you do acquire tickets, here’s a quick checklist:
Traveling from abroad, check on whether or not you need a visa to enter Mexico, Canada or USA.
You’ll want to consider Flights:
Utilize a service like Google Flights where you can go into Explore mode and view entry points into various airports.
Use a service like Going that proactively notifies you of mistake fares, sales, etc. You can use this link for 20% off. I personally use Going for international and domestic fares.
Start planning lodging:
This could be trickier in some cities than others; hence where our partner Roadtrips can come in to assist.
Else, check your hotel aggregators like Hotels.com, Booking, Expedia, etc.
Don’t forget to check out our newly launched and almost complete (Version 1) Host City Guides for quick references on all of the above, Fan Fests, Things to Do, Public Transit, and more.
Verizon Giving Away Tickets
This one caught me by surprise and in a good way. Verizon Wireless is utilizing its partnership with FIFA to give away thousands of World Cup tickets to fans! This article from Verizon discusses their sponsorship activation.
The fun starts Oct 2nd with hourly drops + Oct 3rd to 13th with daily drops and then a drop of 200 tickets in November that provide field-level access for part of the match and “Meet & Greet” with celebrities of the game like David Beckham, Kun Aguero, Chucky Lozano and more.
Hospitality Packages - New Matches Available
Two new single-match hospitality offerings are available for the Official Hospitality tickets by On Location/FIFA. Fans can now select Round of 16 and the Bronze Medal match; whereas Group Stage and Round of 32 was previously only available for single match options.
As a reminder, these do not go through the similar Sales Phases and are available right now at the official site.
Federation (Supporters / Conditional) Tickets
It’s been briefly mentioned in the past but for those unaware, each federation is allocated tickets to their matches. It is up to the federation on how they allocate tickets to their fans/supporters.
Federation ticket allocation typically comes right after the draw (for Qatar 2022, it came within days of the Draw). The tickets are still managed through FIFA but you may apply through your federation and then receive tickets into your FIFA account. A couple questions arose about what a “conditional” vs “supporter” ticket means.
Briefly “supporter” refers to the group stages and “conditional” refers to purchases for knockout rounds where if their team progresses, he/she receives a ticket. If the team does not progress, that ticket is refunded.
For reference, here’s the FAQ that US Soccer sent their supporters.
Tip: In all recent tournaments, additional tickets are released into the ticketing portal the day or two before knockout matches. Don’t forget to check the FIFA portal regularly throughout the tournament.
2030 - 64 Teams + Groups in South America
I know, I know…let’s get through the chaos of 2026 before we start thinking of 2030.
However, this news was intriguing enough to include at the moment. The South American contingent made a proposal to have a “one-time” tournament in 2030 where there are 64 qualifying teams (2026 is 48 after having 32 from 1998 to 2022).
I’m not keen on this idea but do like the format more than 2026 where 3rd place teams will progress to the next round. However, the one suggestion I did enjoy was having the host South American counties (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) host their group matches vs only the opening match before jetting across the seas to finish in Spain/Morocco.
Selfishly, and unrealistically, it would allow me to tour South America before hopping over for the remainder of the tournament so I like that. But from a competitive perspective, it seems fair to the fans and teams to do this as well.
Qualifying Updates
From the last international window, we saw 5 more teams qualify: Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, Tunisia, Morocco.
We also saw a wild result in Bolivia beating Argentina at home (massive home field advantage, look it up) while Venezuela lost 6-3 to Colombia which means Venezuela remains without a World Cup appearance and Bolivia gets South America’s spot in the “Intercontinental Playoff”.
October’s window is around the corner and has massive implications in Africa’s qualifying. It is incredibly tight across many groups and a recent disciplinary action against South Africa has really opened up the race for the top spot.
Honestly, there’s too much to comment on given the breadth of this newsletter already so take a peek at live standings and results here.
Answering Reader Questions
Interested in sending a question? Hit respond directly from your inbox to send a message to submit a question. I’m summarizing & generalizing the topics here:
When will Right to Buys (RTB’s) be able to actually purchase?
This may have been the most common question asked after the last newsletter. No word yet but I imagine in a few weeks, before the next phase begins, there will be more details from FIFA.
Do you need a passport to purchase or use tickets?
Nope!
When will match times be announced?
Guessing after the Draw. I would assume that the regions are generally allotted a time range for matches and then based on the group draw and matchups, we’ll learn the times.
Can you choose your seats when purchasing?
Nope! You select a “Category” but not a specific seats. Seats are assigned much closer to the tournament.
What about families larger than 4?
The “per match” purchase by “household” is currently 4. This is probably the second most common question I received. It was 6 tickets per match in Qatar which likely did not have as high of a household demand as 2026 will have. The best method is to hope FIFA’s block on “household” doesn’t impact you and two people can make purchases because in an article by The Athletic, a FIFA rep recommended Hospitality tickets which is unreasonable.
How do we resell tickets?
FIFA will open their own platform to resell tickets and allow fans to list their own price…except in Mexico where it can only be face value. In previous tournaments, this was
Are On Location & FIFA Still Hiring for 2026?
I’ll continue to post links for the jobs FIFA and others post. The positions refresh often:
On Location Jobs (Hospitality Vendor)
And, since a large % of readers here are American, here’s a link to open jobs with US Soccer, too.
Bonus Links
For Planning Your Trip - look at different views of the schedule
Go to this article and you can see the schedule in various formats, link to a reel that shows cities by date and this could help you plan your trip. It made me realize if I head to the west coast for a match, I may have to jump on a red-eye flight to get back for next day east coast match.
Football Ticket Scams on the Rise
I took this from a FIFA publication that linked to this article. Be cautious of scams.
We have mascots…
FIFA released the 2026 mascots in this video. Some of you may care? My kids do but it’s admittedly not really what I personally focus on. I am, however, ready for the songs to get released so I know what I’ll be listening to all summer. 🙂
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Shoutout to Our OG Partners
Always showing love to our OG’s with shouts to AI Language Tutor Languatalk and virtual personal card Businesscards.io!
Interested in learning a new language to with an actual human OR engage in a convo with a fully immersive and fluent AI personality on your schedule? It can be useful with meeting with other fans.
Don’t let the name deter you, we use this service for personal connections, too! BC’s virtual card has been a useful way to exchange contact info + socials with fellow fans we meet at tournaments.
