'I spent $6,000 on a World Cup trip but was left stranded at the gate'
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'I spent $6,000 on a World Cup trip but was left stranded at the gate'
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Image source, Sergio Enrique Alvarado MontalvoByFrancisco VelasquezBusiness reporterPublished2 July 2026, 05:59 BSTWhen Sergio Enrique Alvarado Montalvo paid $1,700 (£1,300) on StubHub to surprise his father with World Cup tickets, he envisioned an unforgettable Father's Day watching Lionel Messi play.
Instead, after flying his parents from Mexico to Dallas for the Argentina v Austria match, and spending nearly $6,000 (£4,600) on travel and hotels, the family was left stranded outside the stadium gates. Just one day before they were set to travel to Dallas, StubHub abruptly notified Montalvo that the seller could not deliver the tickets, refusing to provide comparable replacements due to soaring prices. They turned up at the stadium anyway, hoping they could still get their tickets, with Montalvo on the phone to StubHub up until an hour before kick-off.
"I was so sad and so frustrated, and so filled with rage, anger," the 45-year-old told the BBC. "It was a mix of feelings that is hard to explain." Montalvo's nightmare is part of what industry insiders are calling one of the largest ticketing collapses in history. As the 2026 World Cup sweeps across 16 cities the US, Canada and Mexico, many fans are finding their bucket lists ruined by last-minute cancellations on secondary marketplaces.
The primary culprit is believed to be an industry practice known as "speculative ticketing", where unverified sellers list tickets they do not yet own, hoping to source them cheaper and closer to the event. When ticket prices soar, these sellers simply back out of the deal to resell them for a higher profit, leaving buyers like Montalvo empty-handed with a refund for their tickets that doesn't cover their expensive travel costs. Eben Pingree, 44, from Boston, faced an identical scenario after his wife Caitlin paid $2,800 on StubHub for tickets to the Scotland v Haiti match to surprise their 11-year-old son Cole.
How 🌍 Al Jazeera Covers It
xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoBefore the June 18 South Africa-Czechia match at the ongoing FIFA World Cup, South Africa’s captain Ronwen Williams responded directly to online attacks against the players and the team. The criticism, primarily from other Africans, was directed towards South Africa’s anti-immigrant and xenophobic approach to residents from other African countries. He said he hoped football could unite players and that they should “enjoy and have a wonderful time, and we leave politics to the politicians”.
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