World Cup final ticket is selling for £8.5 million despite having one of the worst seats in the stadium

A ticket for the 2026 World Cup final is selling for £8.5 million despite having no additional perks for the showpiece.

The final of the first ever 48-team tournament takes place at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on 19 July.

The stadium has a capacity over 82,000 and even though fans don't yet know who will be playing out the final, it is sure to be the hottest ticket in town.

However, much has been made about the extremely expensive tickets for the World Cup in North America - which have gone on sale in a ballot and garnered more than 500 million ticket requests according to FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

Some of the prices were reduced after backlash, making it more affordable. However, it's emerged that the most expensive ticket for the final is $11,000 (£8,091) - a stark contrast to the top price of $1,600 (£1,176) from the 2022 final.

Remarkably, Sky Sports stated that on the resale market, one ticket has been priced at an eyewatering $11.5 million (£8.5 million) even though it is merely a standard ticket.

The ticket is not even particularly close to the pitch, located in block 307, row 22, seat 12.

Any ticket for a World Cup final is a good one but it's fair to say that £8.5 million is no deal. A similar view has been uploaded in image form on the site 'A View From My Seat', taken from an NFL game between the New York Giants and Tampa Bay Bucaneers.

A similar view from the MetLife Stadium. Image: A View From My Seat

Infantino addressed the furore surrounding ticket prices after four final tickets behind the goal were listed for $2.3 million (£1.693 million).

He joked he would "personally bring a hot dog and a Coke" for anyone who pays such an amount for the tickets.

Speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, Infantino explained: "We have to look at the market – we are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates. In the US it is permitted to resell tickets as well. So if you were to sell tickets at the price which is too low, these tickets will be resold at a much higher price.

"And as a matter of fact, even though some people are saying that the ticket prices we have are high, they still end up on the resale market at an even higher price, more than double of our price.”

He added that, "If some people put on the resale market some tickets for the final at $2m, number one, it doesn't mean that the tickets cost $2m, and number two, it doesn't mean that somebody will buy these tickets".

While FIFA do not control the prices on the resale site, The Guardian have highlighted that the governing body take a 15% purchase fee from the buyer of each ticket, as well as a 15% resale fee from the seller.