'I spent US$6,000 on a trip to the World Cup, but I ended up outside the stadium'

Sergio Enrique Alvarado Montalvo, 45, with his family at a party to watch the game in Dallas, Texas
Sergio Enrique Alvarado Montalvo
When Sergio Enrique Alvarado Montalvo paid US$1,700 (about R$9,200) for tickets on the online resale platform StubHub to surprise his father with a trip to the 2026 World Cup, he imagined that the two of them they would live an unforgettable Father's Day watching Argentine player Lionel Messi on the field.
Instead, after taking their parents from Mexico to Dallas, in the south of the United States, to watch the Argentina x Austria match, and spending almost US$6,000 (about R$32,500) on tickets and accommodation, the family was unable to enter the stadium.
Just one day before the trip to Dallas, StubHub suddenly reported that the seller would not be able to deliver the tickets. The platform also refused to provide equivalent tickets, claiming that the prices had skyrocketed (i.e. the price was much higher than what Montalvo had previously paid).
Still, they went to the stadium in the hope that they would still get the tickets. Montalvo remained on the phone with StubHub until an hour before the start of the match.
"I was very sad, very frustrated and overcome with anger. It was a mix of feelings that are difficult to explain," Montalvo, 45, said in an interview with the BBC.
The nightmare Montalvo experienced is part of what industry experts are calling one of the biggest crises in the history of ticket sales. While the 2026 World Cup passes through 16 cities in the USA, Canada and Mexico, many fans are seeing their dream of watching the World Cup end because of last-minute cancellations on resale platforms.
The main reason is a practice known as speculative ticketing. In this case, sellers without guaranteed tickets offer tickets that they do not yet have, hoping to be able to buy them cheaper closer to the event date.
When ticket prices rise, these sellers simply cancel the initially negotiated sale in order to resell the ticket at a much higher price, increasing the profit margin. Buyers like Montalvo end up only getting a refund of the amount paid for the tickets, which is insufficient to offset the high travel and accommodation expenses.
'My son was devastated'
Eben Pingree, 44 years old, resident of Boston, USA, experienced a similar situation. His wife, Caitlin, paid US$2,800 (about R$15,200) on StubHub for tickets to the match between Scotland and Haiti as a surprise for the couple's 11-year-old son, Cole.
They had organized a trip in advance, along with another father and his son, but the tickets were not delivered on the day of the match. "They basically left us behind, and my son was devastated," Pingree said in an interview with the BBC.
Eben Pingree and his son, Cole, outside the Boston stadium
Eben Pingree
Back in Dallas, Montalvo and his family spent the night of the match at a local fan festival rather than watching the game from the stands. "It was a very sad weekend... inside and out... [but] we enjoyed our time together," Montalvo added.
In another case, two World Cup fans filed a lawsuit against StubHub on Tuesday (30/6), in a case seeking class action status, accusing the resale platform of not delivering tickets they had paid for.
The lawsuit was filed by Julie Reeker Moghal and Reuben Renteria, who stated in court documents that they were acting on their own behalf and on behalf of other people in situations similar.
The pair said they paid StubHub at least US$1,900 each for World Cup tickets that were never delivered. consumer".
StubHub declined to comment on the case. FIFA did not comment directly on the action when contacted by the BBC.
Companies exchange accusations
The crisis started a dispute over versions between companies.
All World Cup tickets can only be accessed via the FIFA website or app, the tournament's organizer. Therefore, any ticket purchased on resale sites, such as StubHub, needs to be transferred within the FIFA website or app. FIFA.
StubHub attributed responsibility to FIFA, stating that the new ticketing app launched by the entity shortly before the event presented "significant performance issues that affected transfers across all resale platforms."
FIFA countered by stating that its official platform is the only guaranteed sales channel and that it cannot guarantee the validity of tickets purchased through third parties. The entity said it "rejects any suggestion" that technical problems affecting secondary platforms are the fault of the entity's own system. FIFA.
It added that its ticketing platform was "operating reliably" and said that more than 5 million people had watched matches so far.
But experts say the platforms cannot blame software glitches alone. She's no saint. Their ticket sales system is terrible. It looks like software from 1999," Friedman added.
Although StubHub claims to strictly prohibit speculative ticket sales on its platform, entities that monitor the sector and dissatisfied consumers believe the practice remains common.
Some sellers also say they have been harmed. A seller from Austin, USA, told the BBC that he lost US$2,600 (about R$14,000) after advertising a legally purchased ticket on StubHub. FIFA Marketplace. He claimed to have sold the ticket for US$1,200 (about R$6,500) and sent the ticket to the email address automatically generated by the platform. Still, StubHub canceled the sale due to "non-compliance", withheld the payment and even charged him a fine of US$1,400 (about R$7,600).
For the average consumer, facing a large company may seem like an impossible battle. win.
Bradford Clements, a lawyer who currently represents clients with more than US$2.4 million (about R$13 million) in claims against StubHub, most of them unrelated to the World Cup, says that the company's complex dispute process often leads to ordinary fans giving up on seeking compensation.
"People don't understand that StubHub's strategy is to intimidate, to bully and to deny," Clements told the BBC. The lawyer also stated that legal notices sent to the company have been returned.
StubHub has not commented on Clements' accusation.
It is not yet clear how many people have faced problems with tickets purchased on StubHub or other resale platforms. Hundreds of fans reported difficulties on social media, while one report suggested that thousands of tickets had been cancelled.
A StubHub spokesperson said the company is expanding its ability to obtain replacement tickets for affected customers and highlighted that all purchases are covered by the FanProtect guarantee. According to the company, if the customer does not receive the purchased tickets or other equivalent or superior tickets, they will be entitled to a refund.
But in practice, this guarantee is of little use to fans who have already lost thousands of dollars in travel expenses that cannot be reimbursed.
As the World Cup enters its decisive phase, entities that monitor the sector warn that the cancellation crisis could worsen, leaving more families outside the stadiums, with nothing to compensate for an experience that should last a lifetime whole.
Additional reporting by Osmond Chia
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Source: G1