Here’s my prediction: FIFA will begin its first Random Selection Draw period for 2026 World Cup ticket sales around August 11, 2025, which is 305 days before the start of the tournament.

On June 5, 2024, I emailed FIFA and asked when they plan to begin the ticket sale process. They replied: “At this stage, we kindly refer you to FIFA.com/tickets and to the ticket registration page,” which is not much. But I’ll keep insisting.

Meanwhile, if we use Qatar 2022 as an example, we can expect the first batch of tickets for the 2026 World Cup to go on sale about 11 months before the start of the tournament.

We can also expect to have access to tickets until the end of the competition. In Qatar’s case, that entailed online last-minute sales and over-the-counter sales in Doha until December 18, 2022. (Needless to say, based on availability.)

Qatar 2022 had three sales phases:

1. Sales Phase 1:
   • Random Selection Draw Sales Period: Started January 19, 2022, and ended February 8, 2022.
   • First Come First Served Sales Period: Started March 23, 2022, and ended March 29, 2022.
2. Sales Phase 2:
   • Random Selection Draw Sales Period: Started April 5, 2022 and ended April 28, 2022.
   • First Come First Served Sales Period: Started July 5, 2022 and August 16, 2022.
3. Last-Minute Sales Phase:
   • Online Sales: Started September 27, 2022, and ran until the end of the competition on December 18, 2022.
   • Over-the-Counter Sales: From October 18, 2022, until the final match day on December 18, 2022.

The Random Selection Draw period for Qatar 2022 began on January 19th, 305 days before the tournament. (People learned if they were selected by the end of February 8, and could pay for their allotted tickets until March 21, 2022.)

So, again, I predict that FIFA will begin the Random Selection Draw period for 2026 in August 2025. Fingers crossed!