Rankings and commissions makes Fifa World Cup a little seedy
The draw for the Fifa World Cup 2026, being held on 5 December, is usually a moment of excitement and trepidation as nations find out the opponents and the route they have to the latter stages of the tournament – but, for the first time ever, this is not the case for four of the participants.
In a controversial move, Fifa has elected to adopt a ‘tennis-style’ system for the top ranked four sides, to a large part ensuring that they will not meet each other until the semifinal stage.
The top two sides, Spain and Argentina will be placed on opposite sides of the draw, as will third-ranked France and fourth-ranked England. This means that, so long as they win their groups, France and England cannot meet until the final and they will not face Spain or Argentina until the semis.
While this system is usual for Wimbledon and was used for the World Club Championship in the summer, it is the first time it has been used for the World Cup. The reason that Fifa has given for the change is to avoid so-called ‘blockbuster’ matches being scheduled too early in the tournament.
England will certainly relish having an ‘easier’ draw to get to the finals, although on past performances at World Cups they may have a challenge winning their group. The bigger impact will be on smaller nations such as, dare I say it, Wales, and also on spectators.
Should Wales qualify (should doing a lot of heavy lifting at this stage) any chance of progress to the latter stages will be hampered by the seedings, as the possibility of two heavyweights meeting in an early round and opening the draw up have been taken away.
For spectators, it means they will probably have to wait until towards the end of the tournament to watch highly competitive, top-quality sides battle it out. While world cups are always avid viewing, the group stages and early knockout matches are invariably won by the favourite, and this will be even more the case in 2026 as 48 teams compete compared to the usual 32.
However, that is not all that spectators have to worry about. The ticket resale platform is now in operation. At previous World Cups, tickets resold through the official platform were capped at face value, but this time around Fifa has lifted this restriction. This has led to eye-wateringly expensive tickets being resold, with instances of an 800% increase on face value for some group matches, and a semi-final ticket being offered for over $950,000 – despite not knowing which two teams will be playing.
So why has Fifa lifted the face value restriction? Unsurprisingly, it’s because Fifa charges both buyers and sellers a 15% commission on each transaction, meaning that when the semifinal ticket sells, Fifa will scoop a tidy $285,000 on the transaction. With over a million tickets already sold in the initial phase, it’s going to be an extremely lucrative ‘celebration of football’ for Fifa.
With big revenues comes a requirement to put on a quality product, which is no doubt behind Fifa’s decision to introduce seedings. England will be desperate not to fluff their lines and win their group, while Wales will be happy to get to the tournament in the first place, as they face a play off in March against Bosnia and Herzogovina, and then a winner takes all tie against Northern Ireland or Italy. It may be prudent for Cymru fans to wait a little while before committing to paying Fifa’s exorbitant commissions.
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The above is accurate as at 26 November 2025.
The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice, and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
