Desperate to secure tickets for the football World Cup, many fans risk being cheated by websites created to sell counterfeit tickets. Here’s how to avoid falling into that trap.
Incredible football stars, historic goals, and legendary goalkeepers: The FIFA World Cup has kicked off in the US, Mexico, and Canada, yet the frantic pursuit of tickets continues. Numerous fraudsters are attempting to deceive football fans online.
In May, the US domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), cautioned against scams and stated it was releasing a public service announcement "to warn the public that cyber threat actors are conducting spoofing attacks against the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) website in advance of the 2026 FIFA World Cup."
It further explained that "a spoofed website is designed to pose as a legitimate website, with branding, product listings, etc., and malicious actors use them to further illegal activity like personal information theft and facilitating monetary scams."
It also listed dozens of suspect domains that had already been identified but noted that "the public should be aware that new websites will continue to appear."
DW Fact Check has compiled several tips on how to identify scams.
How can I spot a fake site?
URLs: Fraudulent websites often feature URLs similar to the original ones but with slight variations. For instance, the official domain fifa.com might be changed to filfa.org, fifa-online.com, fifa-2026.xyz, fifaworldcup26.sale, or fifa-com.services.
Legal notice: In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and various other nations, websites with commercial or editorial content must include a legally compliant imprint. Therefore, if a website lacks one, it suggests it is not a legitimate site.
Fakeshop-Finder: In Germany, you can use this online tool from the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBZ) to check whether a site is legitimate. Simply enter the URL.
Look up a domain: You can verify when a site was registered at www.whois.com.
FIFA tickets at sky-high prices
According to TicketData, a US platform that tracks major sports events, FIFA currently still has thousands of official tickets available.
However, they are costly, and that is likely the biggest obstacle for many fans hoping to attend a match. The cheapest tickets for the June 12 game between the US and Paraguay were selling for $2,000 on June 10, and tickets for Sunday's match between the Netherlands and Japan cost $900.
Verified ticket resale platforms such as Seatgeek, StubHub, Vivid, and Gametime often offer FIFA tickets at lower prices.
Although FIFA and consumer protection agencies still advise consumers to buy only through official FIFA channels to avoid scams, these sites are established ticket marketplaces that provide refund guarantees. Purchases made through them are legally valid.
The GoalPass app enables users to compare ticket prices across various platforms, including both the official FIFA site and unofficial resale sites.
On June 11, a ticket for the Germany versus Ivory Coast match on June 20 was listed at $932 on Seatgeek, while it cost $3,398 and above on the FIFA site.
Experts see no inconsistency in the fact that FIFA allows tickets to be sold at significantly lower prices on other platforms. "The last thing it wants is loads of unoccupied seats - not just for the optics but also because any empty seat means a value of $0," wrote BBC football correspondent Dale Johnson.
"The figures show that fans are not prepared to pay the high prices for tickets for the less desirable games," he added. "This suggests Fifa cannot get the high face value on its own site, leading to the speculation it is trying to sell the tickets elsewhere - without reducing the prices itself."
This article was originally written in German.
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