Not even the high prices have deterred fans of the national team from attending next year's World Cup. The tickets made available to the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) for the three group stage matches are already sold out, a source close to the FPF told ECO.

However, it is important to emphasise that fans who registered on the Portugal+ platform and submitted their application for the group stage do not yet have a guaranteed ticket, since the number of requests exceeds the available capacity in the stadiums where Portugal will play this phase of the competition. Only in February will the recipients of the tickets be drawn, who will then be able to make the respective payment.

The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) had access to only 8% of the capacity of each stadium, like the other federations present at the World Cup, meaning that only 16% of the tickets were put on sale in this initial phase, through the federations. The remaining tickets are managed by FIFA: some are already on sale on online platforms, while others should be made available later, either in new sales phases or through distribution to partners.

The tickets, which went on sale on December 11th on the FPF platform and allow fans to watch the Portuguese national team, have a set price of $700 (approximately €597, Category 1), $500 (approximately €426, Category 2) and $265 (approximately €226, Category 3).

Affordable Tickets

Led by Swiss Gianni Infantino, the organization that governs football worldwide announced on Tuesday the creation of a more affordable ticket for the 104 matches of the competition, but one that will certainly not be easy to acquire. This is due to the very limited number of tickets available at the price of US$60 (approximately 51 euros).

FIFA explained that the "entry tier" tickets represent only 10% of the previous more affordable class intended for the federations of the 48 participating national teams. For Portugal, this means that the Portuguese Football Federation will only have a small portion of these tickets available, despite the large capacity of the stadiums that will host the national team's games.

In short, Portuguese fans will have just over 800 tickets for the three games at a reduced price. ECO also learned that this new category of tickets will be taken from the 8% of tickets made available to each federation, thus ruling out the possibility of increasing the supply.

The world's biggest sporting competition begins on June 11th with the opening match between Mexico and South Africa at the Azteca Stadium, and will be played in Mexico, the United States and Canada, with the final scheduled for July 19th in New Jersey, USA, at the impressive MetLife Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,500 spectators.

The Portuguese team plays in Houston, at NRG Stadium, on June 17th, against an opponent yet to be determined, which will be either DR Congo, Jamaica or New Caledonia. On June 23rd, at the same stadium, the Portuguese national team will face Uzbekistan. The first two matches are scheduled for 6 PM Lisbon time. The third and final group stage match will be at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami against Colombia on June 27th at 12:30 AM.