Ticket Prices Continue To Soar Ahead Of World Cup Final

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is drawing to a close ― and HuffPost continues to live-blog every twist and turn as the final looms at New York/New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.Even before a ball was kicked, the 23rd edition of the tournament was engulfed in controversy: from Iran’s tough journey to the competition amid Donald Trump’s war, to the president’s close relationship with FIFA’s Peace Prize-awarding President Gianni Infantino. That’s not to mention Trump’s travel bans keeping some fans and officials out and the fury over soaring ticket prices. Once the soccer actually began, much of the concern was eased — at least for a short while. But the introduction of hydration breaks, seen as a vehicle for TV advertising, prompted booing from fans and questions about the fundamentals of the game being undermined. And Trump’s intervention in an effort to get a red card reversed for U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, which was fruitless, as the Americans were soundly defeated by Belgium, will likely leave a stain on this World Cup.Check out the full games schedule on the FIFA website.Follow along with our coverage below:Ticket Prices Continue To Soar Ahead Of World Cup FinalTicket prices for the World Cup final between defending champion Argentina and Spain continued to soar, approaching $10,000 just 24 hours before Sunday’s match in East Rutherford, N.J.The get-in price has risen 34% over the past three days, reaching $9,627 by 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to ticket tracking service TicketData.com.After the get-in price dropped as low as $6,636 on Monday, the three-day average rebounded to $7,612 by Friday morning.By comparison, the get-in price for Argentina’s semifinal victory over England settled at $3,177 by kickoff, while France’s win over Spain commanded less than half that at $1,315.The get-in price for Saturday’s third-place match between France and England in Miami closed at $634, having plummeted 50% over the past three days.Sunday’s final will kick off at 3 p.m. ET at New York New Jersey Stadium between a pair of global powerhouses. It will conclude the largest World Cup in history, with the White House confirming that President Donald Trump will attend.The get-in price for tickets to the final peaked at $13,650 back in October before dipping as low as $6,336 a month later. They had risen back to above $8,000 when the tournament began on June 11 and the get-in price reached $12,129 on June 23 before declining again.Through 102 matches across 16 cities, the median get-in price has been $916.— Field Level MediaProtesters To Show Trump, Infantino Red Cards At World Cup FinalProtesters are taking on Donald Trump and his peace prize-awarding buddy, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, by encouraging soccer fans attending Sunday’s World Cup final to show red cards in the crowd when the U.S. president presents the trophy to the winning team.Volunteers with a coalition of artists, organizers and advocacy groups will hand out thousands of mock red cards to fans at locations near the site of — and at major transit hubs servicing routes to — New York-New Jersey Stadium, where Argentina will take on Spain in the final, per a press release.The cards, according to a website on the coalition’s efforts, look to target Trump over his “political corruption and abuse of the presidency.”The site refers to Trump as an “aspiring dictator with an offensive pattern of corruption who has interfered in the World Cup over and over again” before accusing Infantino of trying to appease his pal by presenting him with the FIFA Peace Prize ahead of the tournament.Infantino is also criticized for not intervening when the Trump administration “harassed” teams such as Iran, who — on top of travel restrictions placed on the squad’s fans and personnel — were forced to relocated their base from Arizona to Mexico just before games got underway.The coalition slams Infantino for bending to Trump when the U.S. president directly called him to ask for a review of a controversial red card against American striker Folarin Balogun in the round of 32.“In soccer, the referee shows a red card to remove someone who has no place on the field. On Sunday, we put that power in the hands of the crowd: tens of thousands of fans, one gesture, broadcast to over a billion people: You don’t belong on this field,” the coalition’s site reads.The coalition is composed of several groups, including Contra-ICE, a collective of artists and musicians involved in a distribution of “ICE OUT” flags to fans outside the Super Bowl earlier this year.World Cup Hydration Breaks Didn't Impact Results But Their Future Is Undecided, Top FIFA Official SaysEAST RUTHERFORD, New Jersey, July 18 (Reuters) - Hydration breaks introduced at the World Cup did not impact the flow of play and had no effect on results of matches but their future is still undecided, Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, said on Saturday.Speaking ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina at the New York New Jersey Stadium, former Arsenal manager Wenger said FIFA would review the hydration breaks after the tournament, before taking a decision on whether to use them in future competitions.FIFA made three-minute hydration breaks midway through each half mandatory in every World Cup match but they were not universally embraced.Critics said the breaks, which essentially cut the game into four quarters, impacted the momentum of matches while allowing broadcasters to benefit from commercial breaks for over two minutes. Fans booed during hydration breaks early on in the tournament.“No,” Wenger told a press conference when asked whether they had any impact on the games. “Sometimes they did not like them and we have to analyse after the World Cup what is the impact.“It did not look to me that it (hydration break) changed the results of the competition. But we are here to serve people who watch football,” he said.COOLER CONDITIONSDuring the tournament, Spain coach Luis de la Fuente and Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk supported the intent behind the rule in extreme heat, but questioned the need for it in cooler conditions and at covered venues. England coach Thomas Tuchel said they had a bigger impact than initially anticipated and broke the moment of matches.Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa was even more critical, saying the breaks had added nothing to football while destroying the sport’s cultural essence.There were considerable differences in playing conditions during the World Cup, held across Mexico, Canada and the United States, with some matches played in extreme heat and others in much cooler conditions, especially in Canada and Boston.“In some games it was really needed and because we did not want to make any difference between games we decided to do it (for every match),” Wenger said. “We will have a deep analysis after the competition.”“In some games where stadiums were covered, people were not happy with it. Medically it was needed in many games. We have not come to a conclusion yet.”(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ed Osmond)Pressing Spain Is 'Very Simple' in Theory But Painful In Practice, Says Ex-Manager Ahead Of FinalNEW YORK, July 18 (Reuters) - Julen Lopetegui knows what it is to see Argentina picked apart by Spain‘s passing carousel, but the former Spain manager says Sunday’s World Cup final will be no nostalgic rerun of a friendly thrashing in Madrid.Lopetegui was in charge the last time Spain faced Argentina, a 6-1 win at the newly opened Metropolitano stadium in 2018, when Lionel Messi was absent and Spain produced the sort of midfield suffocation that can make opponents feel they are chasing shadows.“It’s a wonderful memory because I think we played a brilliant match against a great team like Argentina,” Lopetegui said.“We managed to close down the spaces in midfield, press high up the pitch, and the team put in a good performance. But these are two completely different matches. We’re talking about a World Cup final, not a friendly.”Spain arrive after a 2-0 semi-final win over France in which they reduced the tournament’s most dangerous attack to a state of frustration and, until after the 80th minute, not a single shot on target.France players suggested they should have pressed Spain higher and harder. Lopetegui, who coached Qatar at this World Cup and was part of Spain‘s squad as a goalkeeper in 1994, said that plan looks tidier on a tactics board than it does when the ball starts fizzing through Spain‘s geometric triangles.“The theory is very simple, but it’s true that pressing a team like Spain isn’t straightforward, primarily because of their collective ability to understand the game,” he said.“It’s not a case of pressing one or two players; rather, you have to be able to press a great many potential ball recipients at the right moment, in the right space, at the right time and in the right decision-making situations.”Then, he added, comes the other problem. Spain‘s players are not just part of a system, they are good enough to escape the trap on their own.“There’s their individual ability — in addition to their collective one — to get out of situations on their own that many players aren’t capable of handling, in order to overcome that pressure and, naturally, weaken you,” Lopetegui said.CALM BUILD-UPBoth finalists, he said, want the ball and both have players comfortable enough to shape the rhythm of a match. Yet Spain‘s calm build-up from the back gives them a particularly sharp edge.“Against a team that wants to have the ball as much as Spain do, the opposition will naturally want to press them, but at the same time it’s also an opportunity for Spain to find more space,” he said.“In football, the blanket covers your feet but sometimes leaves your head exposed, doesn’t it?”Spain, Lopetegui said, have a back four and a goalkeeper capable of staying composed, restarting play cleanly and finding the pass that turns pressure into goals.“That makes it much harder for the opposition to press and, conversely, helps you a great deal,” he said, adding that Argentina also have plenty of players in midfield able to keep possession.For all the tactical chess, Lopetegui believes the final may come down to something less elegant but no less decisive: competitive nerve.“For me, the main strength of both teams is that they are very competitive,” he said. “When you push them to the limit, they usually respond well.”He pointed to Argentina’s resilience in knockout danger and Spain‘s faith in their positional game.“Spain, who have been able to maintain their composure and calm, believing in their style of play, biding their time, and understanding that their superiority will sooner or later be reflected on the scoreboard,” he said.Lopetegui expects Argentina to threaten with vertical runs from forwards and midfielders, especially from the second line, while Messi, now 39, has reinvented himself for the demands of a different era.“He’s gained other qualities, such as making his teammates play better and optimising his runs into the box,” Lopetegui said. “This evolved version of Messi is a different player, and the national team perhaps plays differently to make the most of his strengths.”Spain‘s threat, by contrast, is spread across the pitch.“Spain is a team where I believe any player has the potential to take centre stage in the attacking phase,” Lopetegui said, citing Pedro Porro’s goals, Cucurella’s runs, contributions from Fabian Ruiz and Mikel Merino, and Pau Cubarsi’s shots.“It’s a team where it’s not just the forwards who attack, but the whole team, just as the whole team defends.”In other words, Argentina may try to pull the blanket one way. Spain will attempt to make sure something, somewhere, is left uncovered.(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Ed Osmond)If History Is Any Indication, Expect Some Goals In Sunday's World Cup FinalEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Expect some goals in the World Cup final. At least, that’s what history says.In the 22 previous World Cup men’s finals (which would include the 1950 match between Uruguay and Brazil that technically wasn’t a final, but decided who won the World Cup), the winning team has averaged 2.6 goals in the title matchup. The losing team has averaged 1.1 goals.The two most recent World Cup finals have been offensive slugfests, with a combined 12 goals. France beat Croatia 4-2 in 2018, while Argentina and France tied 3-3 in 2022 (before Argentina prevailed in a penalty shootout).Teams scoring at least two goals have won the World Cup title 17 times; there have been eight instances of a team scoring at least two goals in the final and still falling short.There have been three 1-0 wins: West Germany over Argentina in 1990, Spain over Netherlands in 2010 and Germany over Argentina in 2014. And there was one 0-0 tie in a final; Brazil wound up winning over Italy in a penalty shootout the 1994 final, which had been the only one played on U.S. soil before now.Scaloni looking to join elite clubIf Argentina wins Sunday, Lionel Scaloni — who led the team’s push to the 2022 title — would be just the second person to coach two World Cup championship clubs.Italy went back-to-back as World Cup champions in 1934 and 1938, with both those clubs coached by Vittorio Pozzo.Nobody else has two titles as a coach. There are three men — Brazil’s Mário Zagallo, West Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer and France’s Didier Deschamps — to have won World Cups as both a player and a coach.Messi mattersWhen he takes the field Sunday, Argentina star Lionel Messi will be the oldest field player to appear in a World Cup final.Messi is 39. Sweden’s Gunnar Gren was 37 when he played against Brazil in the 1958 final.The only player older than Messi to play in a final was Italy goalkeeper Dino Zoff — who was 40 when his club beat West Germany for the 1982 crown. But among field players, Messi will stand alone as the oldest after Sunday.Messi is also in position to join Brazil’s Cafu as the only person to play in three World Cup men’s finals. And since Cafu was a reserve in one of his appearances, Messi would be the first to start the title game on three occasions.For Spain, youth may be served. Experience may, too.Youth may be served by Spain in this World Cup final. And if La Roja prevails, experience would also have paid off.It’s an interesting mix.Spain is slated to have two teenagers — Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí, a pair of 19-year-olds — play Sunday against Argentina in the World Cup final, and no team has ever had more than one teen in the lineup and won the title.So, that’s the power of youth.Here’s the flip side of that: If Spain wins, coach Luis de la Fuente — who is 65 — would become the oldest World Cup-winning sideline boss, passing Vicente del Bosque, who was 59 when Spain won its first title in 2010.For the record, teenagers enter Sunday unbeaten in World Cup finals, according to FIFA, which says only three have ever played in soccer’s biggest game. Pelé was 17 when he helped Brazil win the final over Sweden in 1958, Giuseppe Bergomi was 18 when Italy beat West Germany in 1982, and Kylian Mbappé was 19 when France beat Croatia in 2018.Spain seeking record streakSpain is 28-0-9 in its last 37 matches, which has tied Italy for the longest unbeaten run by a European men’s national team.Italy also went 28-0-9 from October 2018 through September 2021 — before losing to Spain 2-1 on Oct. 6, 2021 in Milan.Argentina has a streak worth noting as well. It has won seven consecutive World Cup matches, tied with Italy for the second-longest such run in men’s tournament history. Only Brazil, which won 11 straight spanning 2002 and 2006, has a longer World Cup winning streak.Argentina-Spain historyThe game is just the second head-to-head meeting in a World Cup between Argentina and Spain. Argentina won 2-1 in the 1966 group stage.Across all competitions and friendlies, the sides have played 14 times. Each has won six times and they tied twice.___See more of AP’s World Cup coverage hereMessi Has Work To Do To Catch Mbappé For The Golden BootLionel Messi has quite a climb to catch Kylian Mbappé for the Golden Boot.The Argentina superstar has won just about everything in soccer except for the award for being the leading scorer at the World Cup, and he’s now two behind Mbappé after the France striker upped his total to 10 goals in a wild third-place game.Even if Messi can’t get there, a record-extending third Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player seems well in reach after Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain in East Rutherford, New Jersey.He’s already the only player to win the award multiple times since it was first given in 1978, and sparking Argentina’s run to a second straight final at age 39 gives him a strong case for another.“He is the history. He is the legend,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.The other awards to be presented Sunday for performances at the World Cup are the Golden Glove for the top goalkeeper, and the Best Young Player Award, given to the top player 21 years old or younger.Spain is in good shape to win at least one if not both of those, with Unai Simón allowing only one goal in seven games and 19-year-old Yamine Lamal providing the dazzle up front and showing why he is already considered one of the most promising players in the world.Messi is at the other end of a career in which he’s won the Ballon d’Or, given to soccer’s player of the year, a record eight times.The Golden Boot has eluded him, but he had the lead going into the final two matches of this year’s tournament. Both Messi and Mbappé had eight goals through the semifinals, but Messi owned the tiebreaker with one more assist.Mbappé then scored twice Saturday in France’s 6-4 loss to England, making him the first player with 10 goals in a World Cup since Germany great Gerd Müller had 10 in 1970.Mbappé also won the Golden Boot four years ago in Qatar, when France lost to Argentina in the final. This time, he could join players such as Italy’s Salvatore Schillaci in 1990, Croatia’s Davor Suker in 1998 and Germany’s Thomas Müller in 2010 as players whose goals in a third-place game carried them to the Golden Boot.Should Messi beat out Mbappé in an Argentina victory, he would be the first Golden Boot winner to play for the champion since Ronaldo scored eight goals when Brazil won the title in 2002.He may not need any goals to secure another Golden Ball.Messi won that trophy for the first time in 2014, when Argentina was the runner-up, and again in 2022 when his seven goals in seven games powered his country to its third title.The Golden Ball, Golden Glove and the Best Young Player Award are voted on by members of the media from a list of players compiled by the FIFA Technical Study Group.___See more of AP’s World Cup coverage hereThe World Cup Final Is Here, With Argentina Facing Spain In Soccer's Biggest ShowdownEAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Lionel Messi and Argentina on one side. Lamine Yamal and Spain on the other.The World Cup final is finally here.Kickoff is at 3 p.m. EDT at MetLife Stadium. Argentina is seeking its fourth title, Spain its second — and could become the first nation to simultaneously hold the World Cup crowns in both men’s and women’s soccer.Read more:Trump Frames World Cup As A U.S. Victory As He Prepares To Present Trophy To Winning TeamNEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to present the World Cup trophy to the winner of Sunday’s final between Argentina and Spain. But to him, the real victor of soccer’s premier tournament just might be the United States.“It turned out we were a soccer country, and I think it’s going to remain,” Trump said Friday at a FIFA reception at Trump Tower in New York City. “This has really brought the world together.”For the White House, Sunday’s match is the culmination of well over a year of navigating a litany of logistical challenges alongside co-hosts Canada and Mexico for what would be the biggest World Cup in history. It had to balance the Trump administration’s hard-line migration policies that barred fans from some World Cup qualifier countries from entry into the United States.The White House faced warnings from human rights groups, and the tournament confronted backlash over high ticket prices. For months, Trump flirted with the idea of moving games out of cities that did not cooperate with federal immigration authorities, and in the weeks before the tournament’s start, local authorities sparred with FIFA over high transit costs, heightening tensions even more.Read more:World Cup Weather Watch: Argentina vs. SpainHere’s what fans can expect in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the 2026 FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and Spain on July 19, including temperatures, the Fan Comfort Index (FCI) level and any weather concerns.See more World Cup weather news on The Weather Channel.1/22/2Saka’s Hat Trick Lifts England Past Mbappé And France 6-4 In Wild World Cup Third-Place GameBukayo Saka scored three goals to lead England to a 6-4 win over France for third place in the World Cup, while Kylian Mbappé surpassed Lionel Messi’s career World Cup scoring record and took the lead in the Golden Boot race with a pair of second-half goals on Saturday.It was the highest-scoring World Cup game since Hungary beat El Salvador 10-1 in 1982, and the 10 goals were the most in a third-place match.Read more from The Associated Press:Meteorologists Weigh In On Wildfire Smoke Forecast For World Cup FInalSmoke from Canadian wildfires that engulfed the Northeast in haze is expected to mostly clear from the New Jersey area just in time for the World Cup final on Sunday thanks to thunderstorms passing through, meteorologists said.Still, warnings of unhealthy air remained in effect Saturday across a wide swath of the United States, and President Donald Trump continued to lay blame on Canada for the smoke crossing the border. Read more from the AP:See All Updates