No email from FIFA about the World Cup ticket draw? You still have a chance

If you signed up for the World Cup ticket draw presale for Visa cardholders but haven’t received a message from FIFA, you are not alone.

Hundreds of people are complaining on social media about the murky process for acquiring tickets to matches, including six World Cup games in the Bay Area. Few others are celebrating after receiving a coveted email from the global soccer organization with access to ticket sales for the 2026 tournament in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. Some of those recipients are sharing that FIFA is giving people 24-hour windows to make their purchases.

Some 4.5 million people signed up for the draw, with the highest number of applications submitted by residents of the three host countries, followed by Germany, England, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Spain and Italy. (Here’s a list of all the teams that have qualified so far.)

This is what we know: If you haven’t received an email from FIFA, that doesn’t mean you’re out of contention for a slot to purchase tickets. According to FIFA, the organization will “notify successful applicants no later than 48 hours before the respective sales window opens.” The purchasing window for the Visa presale draw opened Wednesday and runs until mid-October.

While FIFA said during the sign-up process that candidates would be notified on a rolling basis, it’s now clarifying that “applicants who were unsuccessful will be informed after all successful applicants have been notified” because of the enormous volume of applications and the need to “inform successful applicants in a timely manner.”

FIFA said about 1 million tickets will be available during the current sale phase. Once a fan is notified about a successful application, the organization confirmed that they’ll get a 24-hour window to purchase tickets.

Unsuccessful applicants will need to re-register for subsequent ticket draws, which include a Phase 2 draw with registration from Oct. 27 to 31, and a Phase 3 draw for applications to specific matches, which will open shortly after the final group draw on Dec. 5. The remaining inventory will be sold closer to the tournament on a first-come, first-served basis.