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The World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events in the world, and it's happening right here in North America in 2026. The first game of the World Cup will happen on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City, while the final will occur on July 19, 2026, in New York/New Jersey. FIFA anticipates more than 6.5 million fans will attend the World Cup, spread across 104 matches played by 48 teams.
Soon, American Airlines AAdvantage® members will be able to redeem miles for tickets. Here's what we know so far.
Use AAdvantage Miles To Buy World Cup Tickets
Tickets to the World Cup will be released in phases. The first is a Visa Presale Draw from September 10 to 19, 2025, for Visa cardholders. Make sure you register your account to get a FIFA ID. Then, you'll be able to use your FIFA ID to apply for your first chance to buy tickets.
If you are selected through the first draw, you will be notified on September 29, and will be able to purchase tickets starting October 1. There will be several more subsequent draws, so don't worry if you aren't selected for this one.
We don't know how much tickets will cost, but we do know that FIFA plans to use dynamic pricing. The cheapest tickets, which will be Category 4 tickets to group stage matches, will start at $60. The most expensive, a Category 1 ticket to the final, will start at $6,730 — more than four times the amount a comparable ticket cost to the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar.
You'll be able to buy up to four tickets per match for up to 10 matches, for a total of 40 tickets. However, American Airlines AAdvantage members will have a unique opportunity to use miles to purchase tickets.
How to score World Cup tickets with AAdvantage miles
Starting October 13, 2025, AAdvantage members will be able to redeem miles to some of the most-anticipated matches. Those with AA elite status will have first access:
- October 13: AAdvantage Executive Platinum status and ConciergeKey members
- October 14: AAdvantage Gold status, AAdvantage Platinum status and AAdvantage Platinum Pro status members
- October 15: All AAdvantage members
If you don't have enough miles to purchase a ticket, you can always buy American Airlines miles in bulk or transfer in Citi ThankYou® Rewards points. But at this point it's hard to say if this will be cost-effective. We don't know how many miles will be needed to purchase a ticket. However, it might be a workaround to scoring some hard-to-get tickets if American has exclusive access to a certain batch of tickets.
Related: American Airlines Transfer Partners: Here’s Which Points You Can Convert to AAdvantage Miles
Final Thoughts
While it's not clear how many AAdvantage miles it will require to actually purchase World Cup tickets, this is still an interesting proposition. Attending the World Cup is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I'm definitely open to using my miles to score a ticket. The 2030 World Cup will be in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, so if there was ever a time to attend, it's while it's in our own backyard.
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