World Cup knockout ticket prices in Vancouver and Toronto? It's a tale of two cities
Ticket prices for Thursday's round-of-32 World Cup game in Vancouver have plummeted since it became clear Canada wouldn't be playing there — but it's a whole different ball game in Toronto.
Fans there will get to see two highly rated teams, as superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portugal squad take on Croatia on Thursday, and prices are about four times higher than at BC Place.
Canada's defeat by Switzerland last Wednesday dashed the chances of Vancouver hosting the home team in the knockout rounds and instead it will see the Swiss take on Algeria.
The TicketData website that tracks prices says the cheapest tickets for BC Place in the round of 32 plunged from around $2,100 on Wednesday to about $610 on Tuesday. The lowest Portugal-Croatia entry price was around $2,580.
FIFA's official resale marketplace on Tuesday showed Croatia-Portugal as the only round-of-32 match without any tickets available, while numerous tickets for the match in Vancouver were up for grabs, starting at $474.
As for Canada's round-of-16 match in Houston on Saturday, tickets can be had for as low as $1,160 according to TicketData, or about $980 on FIFA's marketplace.
Thomas Luies shelled out $3,000 for a ticket to the Portugal-Croatia match and believes seeing the sport's giants face off in person is worth the high price tag.
Luies is from India and isn't a diehard fan of any one team, but he has admired the legendary striker Ronaldo for as long as he can remember.
Thursday's game will be the sixth World Cup for the 41-year-old Portuguese captain, and Luies is eager to watch his hero go up against ace Croatian midfielder Luka Modric. For both stars, this World Cup is expected to be their last.
"I will never miss an opportunity to watch this match," said the 28-year-old from London, Ont. "It will be a very emotional moment."
Max Antunes, a Portuguese Torontonian, is struggling to find two tickets within his price range of $1,800 per entry.
"I know it seems like a crazy amount of money, and it is," Antunes said, but he reasoned that he would rack up high costs for travel and accommodations if he went after cheaper tickets at a U.S. venue.
Antunes, 21, is hoping to see "the team we've been following our whole lives" on local turf. He wouldn't dream of going to the match without his father, who immigrated from Portugal alone as a child and inspired Antunes's love of the sport.
Antunes will be downtown on Thursday, crossing his fingers that he'll come across someone who can't make it to the star-studded game.
"I'm still holding out hope," he said.
Ervil DiGiusto, founder of ticket broker StarOne Tickets, said big Croatian and Portuguese communities in the Toronto area had driven up prices.
"We have like first- and second-generation Croatians and Portuguese. They grew up playing soccer back home, yeah, and they still played over here, so these are really strong roots," said DiGiusto.
Ronaldo and Modric were the other factors, he said.
"There is like nobody better than these players, and we've grown up watching them for these 25 years. You know what, they're no longer going to be there tomorrow," said DiGiusto. "You got to go see them today before they go."
DiGiusto said he doesn't think Algeria has a strong fan base, which creates a soft market for tickets for Thursday's Vancouver match.
"When you have a good team in there, or a home team that's played in your country, it makes the world of difference," said DiGiusto.
Nevertheless, Algerian supporters say they'll be making their support known for the fennecs, as their national team is known, named after a tiny desert fox.
The Algerian Community of BC Association has planned a supporters march at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, starting at the CBC Plaza on Hamilton Street, calling it a "chance to show the world the strength and unity of the Algerian community."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2026.
By Nono Shen and Elissa Mendes | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.