Tickets to the Club World Cup Final Can Still Be Had—But Don’t Expect Many Bargains

Tickets for some of the preliminaries of the big pro soccer tournament held in the U.S. this summer could be had at bargain prices. The final? That’s another ballgame. 

The matchup for the title game of the FIFA Club World Cup was determined Wednesday, when Paris Saint-Germain rolled past Spain’s Real Madrid. The French team has been cruising lately, entering this tournament after winning Europe’s club championship this past season. They will meet Chelsea, of England, which took down Brazil’s Fluminense on Tuesday.

Those results set the table for Sunday afternoon’s trophy match at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. While seats are still available, they run considerably higher than the single-digit prices that a few of the earlier games—the tournament started with 32 teams from around the world, ranging alphabetically from Al-Ahly to Wydad—commanded.

“It would mean a lot to win the Club World Cup, not just because it’s a great competition, but also because that would allow us to win all the trophies this season,” said Vitinha, of Paris Saint-Germain. “That would be historic.” 

“We’re more than ready to lift the trophy,” said Chelsea’s Pedro Neto earlier this week. “But I think we need to just focus on ourselves and then see what happens in the final. We are really hopeful that we can win it.”

How Much Are Tickets to the Final? And What’s the Payout for Winning?

Two non-resale seats to the final in the stadium, which can hold more than 80,000 spectators, was on sale on official ticketing site Ticketmaster for about $230 apiece, among, the less-expensive tickets around, as of late Friday. 

And on the higher side? If you want to be close to midfield in one of the lower rows near the action, you’re looking at more than $4,000 a pop.  

The tournament also means big money for the participating teams—FIFA announced total prize money of $1 billion—and, particularly, the winner.

Both teams, should they win, are set to take home about $117 million for doing so, based on FIFA’s formula, which bases the payout in part on a team’s performance in the earlier stages of the competition. (The tournament has additional payouts, not linked to performance, for all the participating teams.)