SportFootballEngland football teamEngland face the prospect of playing their World Cup warm-up clash in Tampa inside a stadium that is less than half full as organisers struggle to offload tickets amid financial pressure on fans18:54, 27 May 2026Updated 18:54, 27 May 2026England could play their World Cup warm-up against New Zealand in front of 50,000 empty seats as organisers struggle to sell tickets for their match next week.‌The Three Lions will take on New Zealand at the 69,000-seat Raymond James Stadium on June 6 in Tampa, but currently there are just 1,500 official England Supporters Travel Club members set to attend as the price of the World Cup leaves fans turning away.‌Only 13,000 tickets have currently been sold for the game, which will be played at the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The cheapest tickets have been priced at a fairly reasonable £54, but the overall cost of the tournament looks to be taking its toll.‌The Times reports that the FA accepts that the price of attending the World Cup across North America has soared, with fans picking and choosing their games or opting not to travel at all.It is understood that English football's governing body is not surprised that the third party operator employed to sell the tickets in Florida is struggling to offload the tickets. They had hoped to attract England fans living in the state as well as those travelling, but that has not turned out to be the case.JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest news, analysis and much more on Mirror Football's Facebook page‌England's second warm-up game in Orlando is against Costa Rica and that is on course to be close to capacity when it kicks-off at the 25,500-seater Inter&Co Stadium. Florida boasts one of the largest and fastest-growing Costa Rican populations in America, accounting for roughly 16 per cent of the country’s total population, and a greater portion of the tickets have been snapped up.Thomas Tuchel's side begin their tournament proper with a clash against Croatia on June 17 before they face Ghana and Panama. FIFA reports that, of the six million tickets available for the 104 matches across around five million have been sold.‌Football's governing body is facing an uncomfortable investigation into their ticket prices, the manner in which they've been purchased and subsequently resold. New York and New Jersey officials are looking into the so called 'dynamic pricing', which has seen fans having to fork out huge sums.The cheapest tickets for England's opening game against Croatia on in Texas were priced at $898 (£628) on FIFA's resale platform in April.Now official action is being taken against FIFA amid reports that fans were misled about the category of ticket they were purchasing with others not receiving the category they thought they were buying.Article continues belowJoin our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.Choose Daily Mirror as a 'Preferred Source' on Google News for quick access to the news you value.‌FIFAThe FAEngland football teamFootball fansWorld Cup 2026