FIFA was desperate to avoid that visual heading into this summer's soccer festival, having drastically cut ticket prices for all 104 matches in a bid to entice more supporters to the US, Canada and Mexico.

The 2026 World Cup kicks off on Thursday, but FIFA is facing an embarrassing situation with close to 180,000 unsold tickets still available for the group stage of the tournament

It's still a little too soon to tell if FIFA erred significantly in its unprecedentedly expensive World Cup ticket pricing scheme.