When the FIFA 2026 World Cup arrives next year, the majority of Team Canada’s Canadian games will be played in Vancouver.
The men’s national team will play its first game in Toronto, then games two and three in Vancouver. If they advance out of the group stage, they’ll play their round of 32 game at BC Place, and if they win that, they’ll also play their round of 16 game there.
But how many locals will get a chance to see that action in person?
“When you say locals, in our world, it’s Canadians. We have the lottery system for individual ticket sales,” said Victor Montagliani, a Vancouverite by birth and now a vice-president with FIFA.
“If you are a commercial entity, you want to buy suites, that’s already on sale. But for [individual tickets], it has to be a draw. Because we have let’s say five million tickets, our demand will be five, six times that.”
One thing fans won’t see that crops up during the Olympics is batches of empty seats put aside for the games’ sponsors.
“We don’t have that. That’s a big difference,” Montagliani said.
It’s not clear when the lottery for individual tickets for Vancouver games will open, but fans can pre-register their interest on FIFA’s website.