How can I get World Cup tickets (using credit cards & airlines)?

TLDR; Bank of America is offering an exclusive opportunity to buy World Cup tickets if you are a new applicant with their Customized Cash Rewards card or Unlimited Cash Rewards card. And American Airlines is offering you the chance to redeem AA miles for tickets.

FIFA World Cup tickets have already been released and are extremely hard to come by already. That said, using credit cards and loyalty programs, you'll have several additional opportunities to score tickets (ideally for a bit cheaper than list prices).

What’s the FIFA World Cup?

The FIFA World Cup is a competition that happens every four years where countries across the world compete in a soccer tournament. The World Cup for 2026 is slated to be in three countries this year—Canada, the United States and Mexico. There will be 48 teams competing next year, making it a very exciting tournament.

And there are/will be lots of ways to purchase tickets. From redeeming miles for tickets to having special access with credit cards, you have quite a few options.

Who can access Bank of America’s World Cup tickets?

If you are a new applicant of the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card or the Bank of America Unlimited Cash Rewards card and you submitted your application anytime between December 04, 2025 & January 05, 2026 + get your account established by February 05, 2026, you will have access to purchase up to two World Cup tickets.

For example, let's say you apply on January 01, 2026 and get approved the same day. You now just need to make sure your account is set up prior to February 05, 2026.

However, another scenario could arise where you apply on January 04, 2026 and don't get approved for another two weeks. As long as your account is set up by Feb 05, 2026, you should be good to go.

If I currently have a Bank of America card, am I eligible?

No, this offer is only available to new applicants for the Customized Cash or Unlimited Cash cards between December 04, 2025 and January 05, 2026. Per the Bank of America Terms and Conditions, "your account must be opened and established by February 5, 2026 to be eligible."

What’s the process for getting World Cup tickets with the Bank of America cards?

Assuming you applied for the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card or Unlimited Cash Rewards card by January 05, 2026 & your account is opened and set up by February 05, 2026, you will be eligible for the exclusive access.

And then on February 10th, 2026 at 12 pm ET, eligible cardholders of both cards will receive a one-time link to the FIFA ticketing site. Make sure you have an email on file with your Bank of America account—or else you might not be able to log into your Bank of America account to click the link.

You’ll be able to buy tickets using this one-time link from February 10th to February 24th or until the tickets sell out.

Bank of America has told folks that thousands of tickets will be available but if you want the best possible options its best to strike early.

Will I be getting one of these Bank of America cards for World Cup ticket access?

Honestly, no. I worry that Bank of America’s language about World Cup ticket access is too vague—it’s unclear whether or not these tickets will be cheaper than tickets from FIFA.com or from various reselling sites like Stubhub or SeatGeek. I would much rather apply to other credit cards with better earn rates and bigger welcome bonuses.

Who can get tickets via American Airlines?

Starting on December 17th, AAdvantage members will get access to buy World Cup tickets with American Airlines miles. The opportunities will be released based on your AA elite status. Here’s how it works:

Dec. 17: Executive Platinum status members and ConciergeKey members will have primary access to match tickets
Dec. 18: Platinum Pro, Platinum and Gold status members have access to match tickets
Dec. 19: All AAdvantage members can get match tickets

How can you get World Cup tickets as an AAdvantage member?

Right now, we just have dates on when you will be able to book World Cup tickets for each respective elite status with American Airlines. And American Airlines has encouraged folks to get the AA app so that you can enable push notifications to ensure you receive an alert about your ticket window opening.

I would say just be sure to have your phone on you to check for push notifications about your ticket window and the link to purchase.

American Airlines had the same process in October where you could redeem AA miles for World Cup tickets. People who participated in that round have discussed on Reddit how the best price they saw was 75k AA miles ranging all the way to over a million AA miles.

Most of the time, it’s not worth redeeming your points or miles for anything other than travel but there could be some opportunities here. My thought process is that as time progresses and we get closer and closer to the World Cup, ticket prices will increase. So it will be hard to say in December whether or not using your American Airlines miles for World Cup tickets was worth it or not.

75,000 AA miles is not anything to scoff at—that's worth at least $1,000+ in travel!

If you don’t have American Airlines miles you could always buy some. It’s not something I would recommend unless you have a backup plan for flights with those miles. I would say this promotion is more for the folks that have AA miles in their account. I say this because you’ll be able to look at the prices with miles and compare them to the cash prices and decide on the spot. And this would come without the up-front cost with a person who would be buying miles ahead of time.

What am I going to be doing as an AAdvantage member?

Currently I have 111 American Airlines miles sitting in my account. Sad, I know. However, I have the Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard where I’ll earn 80,000 AA miles after $1,000 in spend. I’m about $650 away from hitting the required spend to get the welcome bonus. I’m tempted to make a big purchase to see if my AA miles will hit before December 19th (my slot for ticket purchases).

There’s a 3rd phase for redeeming AA miles for FIFA World Cup tickets in the spring so I think I’ll wait until then to see what my options are. If ticket prices stay the same at $500-$1,000+ or increase, I will be more likely to use the AA miles redemption option.

Final Remarks

If you’re sitting on a lot of American Airlines miles and have some kind of elite status, it’s definitely worth looking into World Cup tickets to redeem with AA miles. If you have around 70k-250k AA miles, you still might be able to find some good redemptions. With the potential of prices skyrocketing for these World Cup tickets, an AA miles redemption might turn out to be worth it. The Bank of America offer is less interesting to me but if you are already looking for a cash back card, both the Customized Cash Rewards card and Unlimited Cash Rewards card are decent options.

What’s your plan for World Cup 2026?

FAQs

If you are looking for World Cup tickets for 2026, you should look at group stage matches and less popular countries playing against each other. This will apply whether you plan to redeem with AA miles or pay for match tickets in cash.

Yes. Right now, there will be a random selection draw that you can enter for match tickets. It runs from December 11th, 2025 to January 13th, 2026.

My guess is yes. This is the first time the World Cup has been in the United States since 1994. And with an expanded number of teams and fantastic players in the tournament, the hype will only increase.

The <aadvantage-platinum> and Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive Mastercard are a couple noteworthy cards that earn AA miles. There are also Citi cards that give you transferable points to transfer to American Airlines. Some of these cards include the <citi-strata-elite> and <citi-strata-premier>.