{"id":32966,"date":"2025-07-29T23:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T23:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/32966\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T23:35:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T23:35:07","slug":"luck-needed-to-buy-canadas-world-cup-game-tickets-but-odds-improve-the-more-you-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/32966\/","title":{"rendered":"Luck needed to buy Canada\u2019s World Cup game tickets, but odds improve the more you pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Argentina’s Lionel Messi lifts the trophy after winning the World Cup final soccer match between Argentina and France at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022.Martin Meissner\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Canada Soccer\u2019s revamped fan membership program relaunched Tuesday, opening the door to its ticket allotment for Canada\u2019s games at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

Exact details, from timing to pricing, have yet to be announced. But you have to be a member of the CanadaRED program to be part of the ticket lottery.<\/p>\n

The new program is an expanded version of the one used to distribute Canada game tickets at the 2022 tournament in Qatar \u2014 the Canadian men\u2019s first trip to the soccer showcase since 1986.<\/p>\n

There are seven tiers, ranging from free to $5,000 a year, with tax receipts available for the charitable component of each contribution. A separate lottery will be held for each of Canada\u2019s matches, with an equal number of tickets assigned to a draw at each CanadaRED tier. Members unsuccessful in the lottery at their level become eligible for the lottery at lower tiers.<\/p>\n

In other words, the higher the tier, the better the odds of getting a ticket \u2014 and the more perks. Members of the top Icon tier get a gift worth $200 as well as two \u201cfieldside national team matchday\u201d experiences a year, among other benefits.<\/p>\n

FIFA unveils luxury ticket packages for 2026 World Cup in Toronto, Vancouver<\/a><\/p>\n

Tickets to Canada\u2019s group games \u2014 the 28th-ranked Canadian men open play June 12, 2026, at Toronto\u2019s BMO Field before heading to Vancouver for matches June 18 and 24 at BC Place Stadium \u2014 will be scarce for home fans.<\/p>\n

Canada Soccer gets eight per cent of the \u201cpurchasable inventory\u201d for each Canada game at the World Cup, distributed across different price categories.<\/p>\n

With a tournament capacity of 45,000 for BMO Field and 54,000 for B.C. Place, eight per cent translates to 3,600 and 4,320, respectively. But the number available for Canadians in the CanadaRED lottery will be smaller, with tickets earmarked for FIFA, sponsors, media and premium hospitality packages cutting into inventory.<\/p>\n

CanadaRED members will be able to request conditional tickets for possible Canada knockout-round games.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada forward Alphonso Davies (19) looks to play the ball in front of Croatia defender Josip Juranovic (22), midfielder Luka Modric (10) and midfielder Marcelo Brozovic (11) during first-half group F World Cup soccer action at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on Sunday, November 27, 2022.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

There are two other ways Canadians can get tournament tickets.<\/p>\n

FIFA, which expects 6.5 million fans to attend the expanded 48-team, 104-match competition across Canada, Mexico and the U.S., has announced its worldwide ticket lottery will open Sept. 10. There is no word yet on ticket pricing, but in 2022, tickets for non-Qatar residents ranged from $94.50 for the cheapest group-game option to $2,214 for the most expensive seat at the final.<\/p>\n

Hospitality packages for the tournament are already available, starting at $2,500 for a single game. <\/p>\n

Canada Soccer first announced details of the revamped CanadaRED program in March.<\/p>\n

There are two free tiers (Starter and Community, with the latter for registered players, referees, coaches, and volunteers), and five paid tiers \u2014 with levels at an annual cost of $50 (Squad), $150 (Premier), $500 (Champion), $1,000 (Legend) and $5,000 (Icon). <\/p>\n

Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer\u2019s CEO and general secretary, says the revamped program is part of the organization\u2019s fundraising efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a world where traditional revenue streams like government support are not projected to grow at the same rate as the sport is growing and the investment requirements are growing,\u201d Blue said. \u201cSo we have to diversify revenue, and this is one of the ways we are doing it. But we are trying to do it in a way that we think is reasonable, fair, balanced and accommodating for stakeholders that have been loyal and have been around for a long time. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to handle a very, very complicated and unprecedented situation in the most reasonable way possible,\u201d Blue added.<\/p>\n

To that end, the Community tier also covers longtime members of the Voyageurs supporters group and the most capped national team alumni. Those in that tier will have the ability to upgrade to the next ($50) tier at a discounted price of $26. And the longest-tenured Voyageurs, as well as Canada Soccer Hall of Famers and most-capped national team alumni, will get \u201cadditional accommodations to receive even more priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada forward Jonathan David (20) plays the ball as Morocco forward Abderrazak Hamdallah (9) defends during second-half group F World Cup soccer action at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar on Thursday, December 1, 2022.Nathan Denette\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve done a reasonable job of rewarding fans that have been with them for a while, but also giving as much access as they can to people who are interested,\u201d Regina\u2019s Rob Notenboom, president of the Voyageurs board of directors, said of Canada Soccer\u2019s ticket blueprint.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1996, the Voyageurs have some 2,000 members.<\/p>\n

John Nicolls, a Vancouver resident whose daughter Sofia played striker for Dalhousie University, said he would be prepared to join one of the lower-cost tiers to increase his chance of getting tickets to a local Canada game for his family. But he had more questions than answers, wondering about the cost of tickets (which is not covered in the CanadaRED membership) and how many you can apply for (yet to be confirmed).<\/p>\n

Blue says Canada Soccer will provide answers to such questions as soon as the information is available.<\/p>\n

U.S. Soccer has a similar multi-tiered supporter membership program dubbed Insiders. It has nine tiers ranging from Standard Insider (free) to President Circle (US$10,000 a year) with perks to match.<\/p>\n

English fans have to join the England Supporters Travel Club for a shot at tickets for England\u2019s World Cup games. A new adult membership costs 85 pounds ($156.20) with the lottery pot weighted towards members who have attended the most England games.<\/p>\n

CanadaRED previously offered three tiers \u2014 the first free and the other two at a cost of $50 and $150 annually, respectively \u2014 with differing levels of access to Canada game tickets and other perks.<\/p>\n

Canada Soccer says it currently has a little more than 100,000 members across the three tiers.<\/p>\n

Proceeds from the CanadaRED program will \u201cdirectly impact the lives of athletes, coaches, and communities across the country, ensuring that soccer in Canada continues to grow and thrive,\u201d according to Canada Soccer.<\/p>\n

The association, with the help of major donors, seeks to raise $25 million in new money by 2027 to provide national teams, from youth to the senior level, with \u201cworld-class training resources and competitive opportunities,\u201d as well as helping develop high-performance Canadian coaches and remove barriers to entry to Canadian youth in club soccer.<\/p>\n

Money from the CanadaRED program will go to the same causes.<\/p>\n

Canada Soccer reported 2024 revenue of $37.546 million, including \u201capproaching $2 million\u201d in philanthropy. At the time, Blue said that was part of more than $10 million already committed, with the rest coming in future years \u2013 with more to come.<\/p>\n

Blue expects the World Cup ticket demand to be \u201cunprecedented for Canadian soccer,\u201d which is saying something given Canada\u2019s past interest.<\/p>\n

Canada was the top non-participating FIFA member association in terms of ticket sales at the 2010 tournament in South Africa and ranked in the top 10 in 2014 in Brazil.<\/p>\n

In 2010, Canada ranked seventh among all countries \u2014 participating or not \u2014 in terms of country of residence ticket sales at 17,493. In 2014, the figure was 22,942, good for 11th place in world sales. In 2018, in Russia, Canada ranked 17th at 18,131.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Argentina’s Lionel Messi lifts the trophy after winning the World Cup final soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-32966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}