President Trump blasted sky-high 2026 FIFA World Cup ticket prices in an exclusive interview with The Post, saying even he wouldn’t pony up the $1,000 needed to watch the US play in the team’s opening game against Paraguay next month.
In a brief telephone interview late Wednesday, the commander-in-chief reacted with surprise at how much American soccer fans were currently being asked to pay to attend the June 12 match in Los Angeles.
“I did not know that number,” President Trump told The Post just hours after FIFA president Gianni Infantino defended the cost of seats for next month’s tournament. “I would certainly like to be there, but I wouldn’t pay it either, to be honest with you.”
The Swiss-Italian soccer fat cat joked on Tuesday about resale tickets being sold online for just over $2 million for the final on July 19 at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium — promising to personally deliver “a hot dog and a Coke” to any deep-pocketed fan who shelled out for them.
But the president appeared to suggest that his administration could put the exorbitant prices under the microscope, expressing concern they could shut out working-class fans that he counts among his base.
“I haven’t seen that, but I would have to take a look at it,” said the real estate mogul, who helped secure the tournament for the US during his first term in the White House.
“If people from Queens and Brooklyn and all of the people that love Donald Trump can’t go, I would be disappointed, but, you know, at the same time, it’s an amazing success,” he added. “I would like to be able to have the people that voted for me to be able to go.”
The president insisted the competition had been a commercial triumph, praising the “record-setting” number of seats already sold, which FIFA puts at 5 million tickets.
“I know that is extremely successful,” Trump said. “Setting every record in the book. They’ve never had anything like it.”
But supporters in this country and abroad have complained that many of the seats have been scooped by vulture-like scalpers who are trying to cash in by punting them on major resale platforms.
In Europe, one fan group even filed an antitrust complaint with regulators, calling the pricing by FIFA, a Switzerland-based tax-exempt organization, “excessive.”
During an appearance at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, Infantino hit back at the criticism from supporters worldwide and defended the use of dynamic pricing.
“We have to look at the market,” the sports suit told the ritzy confab for the global financial elite. “We are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world, so we have to apply market rates.
“In the US, it is permitted to resell tickets as well, so if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price,” he claimed, pointing to an estimated 500 million ticket requests for this tournament.
“You cannot go to watch in the US a college game, not even speaking about a top professional game of a certain level, for less than $300,” the 56-year-old, who rakes in $6 million a year, continued. “And this is the World Cup.”
The tournament’s broader economic boost, which a FIFA-World Trade Organization study puts at $30 billion, is falling short of forecasts as hotel bookings lag far behind ticket sales.
A survey released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that nearly 80% of hotels in the 11 US host cities are running below initial World Cup projections, with only about six weeks until the June 11 kickoff.
In Kansas City, 85% to 90% of operators reported demand trailing even a typical June or July without a major event.
The AHLA report noted that more than 5 million tickets have been sold, but “hotel bookings have not kept pace,” with domestic travelers outnumbering international visitors.
Industry officials cited visa delays, high travel costs, and geopolitical concerns as key factors slowing foreign demand.
“Bookings are tracking below initial forecasts,” the report stated. Some hotels described the tournament so far as a “non-event” relative to earlier projections, according to the same source.
The 2026 World Cup — featuring 48 teams competing in a record 104 matches across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States — runs through July 19, with the final to be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
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