New York, New Jersey Attorney Generals Launch Investigation Into FIFA Practices

New York’s Letitia James and New Jersey’s Jennifer Davenport have sent subpoenas to soccer’s governing body.

President Gianni Infantino and FIFA are facing more World Cup backlash. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

In the latest scandal involving FIFA ahead of the 2026 World Cup, New York attorney general Letitia James and New Jersey attorney general Jennifer Davenport have launched a joint investigation into the global soccer governing body, specifically surrounding its ticket pricing process for the tournament this summer.

FIFA has been under constant fire since it first launched World Cup tickets last fall, due to its new “dynamic pricing” model that has led to exorbitant costs, sometimes quadrupling prices of past World Cup seats.

“My office, [the office of the New Jersey attorney general] and [the NYC department of consumer and worker protection] are investigating FIFA after reports of soaring World Cup ticket prices and fans not getting seats as advertised,” James posted to X on Wednesday morning.

“New Yorkers have been waiting years for the World Cup to happen here. They deserve a fair shot at affordable tickets.”

The offices of James and Davenport have already sent subpoenas to FIFA, requesting information about the ticketing for MetLife Stadium’s games in particular, of which there are eight, including the World Cup final on July 19.

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Misleading Stadium Seat Maps

New York New Jersey stadium (MetLife Stadium) will host eight World Cup matches this summer. | Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images

FIFA experienced backlash in early April after reportedly changing the publicized mapping of seating zones after fans had already purchased tickets to be in a specific zone of a stadium.

Last fall, as opposed to selling specific seats within the stadiums, FIFA sold tickets by stadium zone. There were four color-coded categories mapped out for each stadium, corresponding to the quality of the seat one could purchase. Category 1 is the stadium’s best seating option, located closest to the pitch and with the best visibility, mostly within the lower bowl, and Category 4 are the nosebleeds.

However, when FIFA turned those categorized purchases into actual seat assignments for fans, many received seats that were outside of the original mapping of the zone they had paid to be in, receiving “less desirable seats, including seats far from the field or behind the goals,” per the attorney generals’ release. Some Category 1 purchasers were given seats in areas that were originally color-coded as Category 2, further back from the pitch than they wanted to be, but those seats had since been rebranded as Category 1.

The attorney generals plan to investigate if and how ticket holders were “misled about the locations of the seat they were purchasing” and if FIFA’s conduct “contributed to soaring prices.”

“Being honest about ticket sales is not complicated,” attorney general Davenport said. “But FIFA has turned buying a ticket to the World Cup into a gauntlet of confusion, fake scarcity, and impossibly high prices—all at the expense of consumers and hardworking New Jerseyans.

“We are committed to conducting a thorough investigation of FIFA’s conduct, and we are proud to stand together with Attorney General James in protecting our consumers. It’s an honor to host the World Cup, but the event is not an invitation to exploit our residents and visitors.”

Added attorney general James: “No one should be manipulated into paying sky-high prices for seats, and fans should be able to trust that the tickets they purchase will be the ones they receive. I thank Attorney General Davenport for joining this effort to get answers from FIFA and protect our states’ consumers.”

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FIFA’s Continued Response

The start of the 2026 World Cup is around the corner. | Eva Marie Uzcategui/FIFA/Getty Images

FIFA has continually defended its exorbitant ticket pricing by attributing it to the state of the U.S. market.

“We have to look at the market,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said last month. “We are in the market in which entertainment is the most developed in the world. So we have to apply market rates.

“In the U.S., 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 our price.”

As for the changing seat maps, FIFA’s “Ticket Terms of Use” do state that “any visual representations of Ticket Categories on the Ticketing Website, such as Stadium maps and illustrations, are for guidance purposes only and may not reflect the actual layout and boundaries of a particular Stadium,” which may impact the attorney generals’ investigation.

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