According to The Athletic, the 2026 FIFA World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina has generated significantly more demand than the other semi-final between France and Spain, with ticket prices nearly doubling.

The two semi-finals feature four football powerhouses and a combined player market value of around $5 billion. France, the world’s No.1-ranked team, will face third-ranked Spain, while second-ranked Argentina will take on fourth-ranked England. With stars such as Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, and Harry Kane all expected to appear, both matches initially seemed destined to become major box-office events.

However, one fixture has clearly attracted much more attention than the other.

According to TicketData.com, as of Sunday evening, tickets for Wednesday’s England vs Argentina semi-final on the resale market were priced at roughly twice the level of tickets for the France vs Spain semi-final, which will be played the previous day.

The cheapest available ticket for England vs Argentina surged to nearly $3,000 (£2,242) shortly after the semi-final matchup was confirmed on Saturday night.

In contrast, the lowest ticket price for France vs Spain had been steadily declining over the past week, dropping from a peak of more than $3,600 on July 4 to below $1,400 (£1,046) by Sunday.

A similar trend was seen on FIFA’s official ticketing platform. The World Cup organizers released thousands of additional tickets for both semi-finals over the weekend. By Sunday night, tickets for England vs Argentina at Atlanta Stadium had completely sold out, with Category 1 tickets priced at $3,545.

Meanwhile, a significant number of tickets remained available for France vs Spain at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

On FIFA’s platform, more than 1,500 Category 1 and Category 2 tickets were still available for the France vs Spain match, priced at $3,710 and $2,705 respectively, despite the matchup being confirmed more than 24 hours earlier than England vs Argentina.

On FIFA’s official resale platform, the lowest available prices for Category 1 tickets — which include seats in the lower levels of the stadium and some or all sections of the 200-level stands — were $1,600 for France vs Spain and $3,611 for England vs Argentina.

For Category 2 tickets, the prices were $1,265 and $2,645 respectively, while Category 3 tickets were listed at $1,380 for France vs Spain and $2,645 for England vs Argentina.

A spokesperson for third-party resale platform SeatGeek told The Athletic that over the past seven days, the average resale price for the semi-final in Atlanta was also around $1,000 higher than the other semi-final being held near Dallas.