Toronto soccer fans may soon have a chance to attend the 2026 FIFA World Cup without paying thousands of dollars, after city council approved a plan to raffle off a small number of tickets to matches being hosted in the city.
On Wednesday, council voted in favour of a “sweepstakes” that will make 52 tickets available for the six World Cup games scheduled in Toronto between June 12 and July 2, 2026. The initiative was proposed by Coun. Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence), chair of council’s FIFA World Cup subcommittee.
“This is a little way of helping with the finances,” Colle said.
Under the plan, winners will be selected at random through a lottery system. The city will work with a private vendor to administer the contest under municipal rules. Residents who wish to enter will pay a “nominal” fee for a chance to win one of 26 pairs of tickets.
Key details — including the price of entries, the timing of the lottery and which matches will be included — are expected to be finalized in the coming months.
Proceeds from the sweepstakes will be directed to the city’s Soccer for All Legacy Program, a World Cup-inspired initiative aimed at expanding access to the sport across Toronto. The program will help fund mini soccer pitches in underserved neighbourhoods, a new soccer complex at Centennial Park and free soccer-related programming.
The sweepstakes will draw from a small portion of the tickets Toronto has secured for the tournament. In total, the city has an allotment of 3,546 seats. City staff said about half of those will be used for a commercial hospitality program, in which tickets are packaged with premium experiences and sold to corporate buyers and sponsors to help offset costs and support legacy soccer projects.
Toronto has already spent approximately $10.7 million on these hospitality packages. The cost of additional tickets, including those set aside for the sweepstakes, remains confidential, though city documents indicate they will not affect the city’s overall $380-million budget for hosting the World Cup.
Mayor Olivia Chow appeared at the 2026 FIFA World Cup kickoff event on June 12, 2025, as the city ramps up preparations for the tournament.
Toronto’s plan follows similar approaches taken by other host cities, including Vancouver, which is also running a lottery program tied to charitable donations.