Several soccer fans who paid thousands of dollars for World Cup tickets say they are frustrated with FIFA’s ticketing process, prompting complaints to NBC Los Angeles and scrutiny from state attorneys general. Long Beach resident Joe Mello said he bought four tickets to the Belgium-Iran match at SoFi Stadium, paying $1,600.
The World Cup starts Thursday with group and knockout stage matches scheduled for the Los Angeles Stadium, aka SoFi Stadium, in Inglewood. The new test pitch for the 2026 World Cup at Sofi Stadium, revealed to the media in Inglewood, California on March 13, 2025.
The pitch will be used for the upcoming Concacaf Nations League semifinals on March 20 when the US play Panama and Canada plays Mexico. tickets say they are frustrated with FIFA’s ticketing process, prompting complaints to NBC Los Angeles and scrutiny from state attorneys general. Long Beach resident Joe Mello said he bought four tickets to the Belgium-Iran match at SoFi Stadium, paying $1,600.
But only one ticket initially appeared in his FIFA app, leaving him worried as the Father’s Day game approached.
“The frustration was not knowing where I was sitting, not knowing if they were going to get it fixed in time and not being able to talk to anyone who seemed to know what they were doing,” Mello said. Mello said FIFA eventually fixed the problem after he spent about a week calling and emailing the organization. He said he believes the situation could have become a “disaster” at the stadium had he not been persistent.
Jose Flores, a soccer fan from Downey, said he and his wife spent $3,800 on two tickets to Los Angeles’ first World Cup match, the United States against Paraguay. Flores said they purchased Category 2 tickets, which FIFA describes on its website as seats “positioned outside of Category 1 areas” and available in both lower and upper tiers. Flores said he expected midlevel seats.
Instead, he said, FIFA assigned them to Section 512 at SoFi Stadium, near the top of the venue.
“We knew we were going to get OK seats, but we were not expecting to be seated in the 500s section,” Flores said. Flores said he complained to FIFA but was told his seats would not be reassigned. He said the situation became more frustrating when he later saw Category 2 tickets closer to the field listed on FIFA’s website for less than he paid.
“Those same Category 2 tickets you can find in the lower section for $800 cheaper,” Flores said. “And that part is extremely frustrating. ”Derek Howard, a longtime trial attorney who teaches sports law at the University of San Francisco, said ticketholders who believe they were misled could consult a consumer attorney. But he said legal action may not move quickly enough to get fans different seats before match day.
Howard said fans may get faster attention by filing complaints with the state attorney general’s office. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said he recently sent FIFA a letter requesting detailed information about its ticketing practices. In the letter, Bonta said California provides legal protections for consumers and has “strict prohibitions on marketing practices that are likely to mislead them.
” Bonta’s office is encouraging ticketholders to file complaints, though a spokesperson declined to say how many complaints have been received. California is not the only state examining FIFA’s ticketing practices. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey have announced a formal investigation.
“Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement. “But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices — all at the expense of consumers. ” For now, Howard recommends that fans with ticketing issues keep contacting FIFA and document their efforts.
“I did an AI search, and it came up with the FIFA information and the cheat codes on how to actually talk to a human, which came in really handy,” he said.
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