Fifa has been eager to push fans to its own resale site. And you can imagine why, considering they take 15% from both the buyer and the seller.
On its FAQ page,, external world football’s governing body says it “strongly encourages you to purchase all types of tickets” through its official platforms.
Fifa also warns that tickets bought via other routes “may be invalid and may be subject to cancellation without notice”.
But on Tuesday, shortly after the inventory on Fifa’s own site fell, the availability on SeatGeek appeared to increase markedly.
Not just random, single seats but batches of seats in rows of specific blocks.
This was highlighted on social media, and within 24 hours the availability on SeatGeek seemed to decrease again.
TicketData says that on Wednesday the number of tickets on Fifa’s own site jumped back up to 37,000.
It is impossible to verify who listed the tickets, and why. Or why the numbers changed on the Fifa site.
As well as SeatGeek, there are thousands of listings on sites such as StubHub and VividSeats.
Anyone can make listings on these external sites, and the tickets themselves might not even exist.
SeatGeek has denied any direct role but this does not mean Fifa, or one of its partners, could not be operating and listing independently.
A statement read: “SeatGeek is a trusted marketplace that gives fans secure access to tickets across tens of thousands of live events, including the World Cup. We do not have a partnership or distribution agreement with Fifa.”
Fifa has been approached for comment but, as has been the case throughout the ticket sales process, no response has been received.
There are other indicators on SeatGeek, too.
Rather than the cost of seats being random, they seem to be set at regular, incremental prices row by row – getting more expensive the closer you get to the front.
Looking at two blocks behind the goal for Uzbekistan v Congo DR, there are 60 listings of multiple tickets priced between $250 (£190) and $296 (£225) across blocks 102 and 103.
When Fifa released its more expensive ‘front’ tickets in April, it sent a clear message that it felt the closer you were to the pitch, the more valuable the ticket was.
The price increases by a few dollars, row by row. All priced well below the face value of $380 (£289).
So either a lot of people are losing a lot of money, or it is a plan to shift inventory.
