Across the Pond - Just the Ticket!

Its Ticket Time !!

Almost there ... as the graphic says: 11mins and 50 seconds until I can officially apply for tickets for the 2026 World Cup courtesy of FIFA partner VISA's presale window.

Having said that, all of this was after well over 90 minutes of the spinning dots tantalisingly telling me I was almost there, and then the countdown timer starting at 30 minutes! All the while while I was keeping my fingers crossed that my browser didnt crash or I had some other IT failure happen!

The actual process of applying for the tickets after the window opened up and gave me FIVE MINUTES to complete my info after waiting two hours was pretty simple. Fill in a little extra data from your FIFA profile, add your credit card number and off you go ...

So thats that then, I am on the list to try and get tickets for either Scotland (if we qualify) or for any game in Toronto which might include one Canada game and whoever else might be drawn here.

So whats next?

According to the site, thats all there is for now. I now wait until 29th September to find out if I was lucky enough to get something in the draw and if so I believe I can score up to 4 tickets.

If nothing awarded for this then I am keeping the eyes peeled for any and all other opportunities to get an order in. FIFA dropped the news last week that "dynamic pricing" would be in effect. This is basically the same type of surge pricing that Uber uses for their services when busy and can see the cost rise two or three fold or more! It can however also work in reverse and dynamic pricing for the Club World Cup recently held in the USA as a pre-cursor to the main tournament saw tickets drop as low os USD$4 per ticket !!! FIFA have however said that no tickets will drop below the absolute minimum cost of USD$60 per ticket.

Personally, I don't care who it is playing the game, although I would obviously like it to be Scotland -V- Canada or some other meaningful game for me personally, but I just want to be able to take my son and wife to a game so we can say we experienced the World Cup!! I think that is something my son will remember long after I am dead and gone!

Plan B?

Oh yes, one must always have a plan B. Not sure it will work for the family, but I also submitted an entry last month to be a World Cup volunteer in Toronto. If I cant pay to get in the stadium, then maybe I can volunteer to get in for 'free'.

Its a bit of a longshot, and you could find yourself based anywhere from the airport to a hotel, to some random street in downtown Toronto, or if you are really lucky then maybe you could be an 'ambassador' greeting players or VIPs to the stadium, escorting them to the expensive seats and hoping to not only soak in the atmosphere but also get a glimpse of the game. The list of positions seems daunting and the application process did seem like a bit of a psychological test to see if you had the warm and fuzzies required for dealing with thousands of well-oiled fans ... We will see

Plan C?

Guess I will have to watch it on telly like the rest of us ...

Fingers crossed I dont need a new Telly !