Anyone in the U.S. who bought World Cup 2026 tickets on StubHub and never received them as promised could be part of the proposed class — the complaint says hundreds of fans, if not more, were affected.
Allegations Only · No Settlement Yet
This article describes a class action complaint. The statements below are unproven allegations. StubHub has not been found liable, there is no certified class, and nothing to claim at this time. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
What Is This About?
A proposed class action accuses StubHub of selling World Cup 2026 tickets it allegedly had no authority to sell — and could not reliably deliver — leaving fans who paid thousands of dollars standing outside stadiums with no tickets. The complaint, Moghal v. StubHub, Inc. (Case No. 1:26-cv-05569, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York), was filed on June 30, 2026 by two California residents on behalf of themselves and a proposed nationwide class of World Cup ticket buyers.According to the complaint, the 2026 World Cup — hosted for the first time in over three decades in North America, across the United States, Canada, and Mexico — sent demand for tickets soaring, with resale prices allegedly starting around $1,245 to $3,000 and some exceeding $10,000. Many fans allegedly turned to StubHub because FIFA's own resale marketplace adds fees the complaint calls a 30% surcharge on resold tickets: 15% charged to the reseller and 15% to the buyer. The plaintiffs allege that StubHub sold World Cup tickets anyway, backed by its Fan Protect Guarantee, and that hundreds of buyers — if not more — later found their tickets did not exist, were revoked without warning, or were never delivered. The allegations are unproven.
The Fan Protect Guarantee at the Center of the Case
StubHub advertises a Fan Protect Guarantee on its website, telling customers it "back[s] every order so you can buy and sell tickets with 100% confidence." The complaint treats that promise as a written warranty and alleges it was deceptive as applied to World Cup 2026 tickets: according to the plaintiffs, StubHub either did not refund canceled orders at all, refunded them only after long delays, or offered replacement tickets worse than the ones fans originally paid for.The lead federal claim arises under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, the statute governing written warranties on consumer products. Citing Federal Trade Commission guidance that a warranty "must not contain deceptive or misleading terms" and cannot appear to provide coverage while providing none, the complaint alleges the Fan Protect Guarantee did exactly that for World Cup buyers. The complaint also brings claims under California's Unfair Competition Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act (injunctive relief only), and False Advertising Law, plus a conversion claim — the plaintiffs say StubHub's own terms of service make California law apply to customer disputes.
FIFA's Resale Rules — and Who Blames Whom
The complaint leans heavily on FIFA's World Cup 2026 Ticket Transfer and Resale Terms, which state that FIFA's marketplace is "the only authorized peer-to-peer marketplace platform" for World Cup tickets, that tickets are only guaranteed valid when resold through it, and that tickets from third-party sources "may be declared invalid or cancelled by FIFA ticketing at any time without notice." In the plaintiffs' telling, StubHub knew or should have known this and should never have listed World Cup tickets at all.The finger-pointing runs in both directions. StubHub has said publicly that "the issues fans have experienced at this World Cup are transfer problems, not ticket problems," attributing them to performance issues that affected ticket transfers across all resale platforms and were outside StubHub's control. FIFA, for its part, has rejected "any suggestion that the functional issues being experienced by users of third-party platforms" are the result of its ticketing infrastructure. Reporting by the Associated Press and The Guardian described stranded families, ruined trips, and hours-long customer service calls, with consumer advocates estimating thousands of World Cup fans may have been affected across resale platforms. No court has resolved who is responsible.
The Named Plaintiffs' Experiences
The two named plaintiffs are California residents who say their World Cup orders collapsed in different ways.The first plaintiff alleges she paid StubHub $1,905 for three tickets to a June 18, 2026 match at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. She says she received a notice that her tickets were ready, then learned StubHub had canceled the order; after hours on the phone, StubHub allegedly promised delivery an hour before kickoff. She says she drove to SoFi Stadium, waited in line, and never received the tickets — and that a promised refund never arrived either.
The second plaintiff alleges he paid $2,294.69 for two tickets to the June 18, 2026 Mexico–Korea match in Mexico and traveled internationally to attend. He says his order was likewise canceled after a "tickets ready" notice, leaving him in Mexico with no way into the match. He alleges he was refunded on June 25, 2026 without explanation, after losing travel costs and time. Both plaintiffs say they reported StubHub to the Federal Trade Commission through counsel on June 30, 2026.
Who Is Covered by the Proposed Class?
The complaint seeks to certify a nationwide class defined, in substance, as:All natural persons in the United States who purchased World Cup tickets through StubHub and did not receive their World Cup tickets as promised during the statutory period. In the alternative, the plaintiffs propose a California sub-class of California purchasers who did not receive their tickets as promised. Excluded are StubHub and its affiliates, officers, and directors, plaintiffs' counsel, and the assigned judges and their immediate families.
The plaintiffs believe there are thousands of class members nationwide, though the complaint acknowledges the exact number is known only to StubHub. No class has been certified yet, so the definitions and eligibility could change as the case proceeds — or the case could be dismissed.
What the Lawsuit Seeks
The complaint brings five counts — the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, California's UCL, the CLRA (injunctive relief only), the False Advertising Law, and conversion — and asks the court to:• Certify the nationwide class (or the California sub-class) and appoint the plaintiffs as representatives.
• Declare StubHub's conduct unlawful and permanently enjoin its sale of World Cup tickets.
• Award actual, statutory, punitive, and/or treble damages as the applicable laws allow.
• Order restitution and disgorgement of profits from the alleged scheme into a constructive trust.
• Award pre- and post-judgment interest, attorneys' fees, and costs.
The complaint also contends StubHub's arbitration clause does not bar the case because, under StubHub's terms of service, arbitration allegedly does not apply where the dispute has been reported to federal authorities and remains live — which plaintiffs' counsel says occurred with the FTC reports. All of these are requests for relief tied to unproven allegations; StubHub has not been found to have done anything unlawful, and no money has been awarded.
StubHub's Other Legal Trouble
This is not StubHub's only consumer-protection matter. Under a separate FTC stipulated order over hidden "drip pricing" fees, StubHub is paying automatic refunds to millions of customers — no claim form required — as covered in our StubHub FTC hidden-fees refund settlement page. That case is unrelated to the World Cup ticket allegations, but together they have kept the resale giant under regulatory and legal scrutiny — as has the government's antitrust push against the primary ticketing market described in our coverage of the DOJ's Ticketmaster–Live Nation settlement.Is There a Settlement or Claim Form?
No. This is a freshly filed lawsuit, not a settlement.• There is no settlement fund.
• There is no claim form.
• There is no payout and no deadline to act.
For any money to be distributed through this case, it would first have to survive StubHub's expected motions — including a likely fight over arbitration — then win class certification, and then either settle or prevail at trial, a process that can take years and may not succeed. Buyers whose World Cup orders were canceled can pursue refunds directly through StubHub in the meantime.
Read the Complaint
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a StubHub World Cup ticket settlement or claim form?
No. This is a newly filed class action complaint, not a settlement. There is no settlement fund, no claim form, and no payout. StubHub has not been found liable, no class has been certified, and there is nothing to claim at this time.
What does the StubHub World Cup class action allege?
The complaint alleges StubHub sold World Cup 2026 tickets it was not authorized by FIFA to sell or could not deliver, and that its Fan Protect Guarantee — which promises StubHub backs every order — misled buyers whose orders were canceled, revoked, or never fulfilled. It brings claims under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, California's UCL, CLRA, and False Advertising Law, and for conversion. These are unproven allegations.
Who could be covered by the proposed class?
The complaint proposes a nationwide class of people in the United States who purchased World Cup tickets through StubHub and did not receive them as promised, plus an alternative California sub-class of California purchasers. No class has been certified, so the definitions could change as the case proceeds — or the case could be dismissed.
Why were StubHub World Cup tickets canceled?
That is disputed. The complaint alleges StubHub sold tickets it was not authorized to sell, pointing to FIFA's resale terms, which state FIFA's own marketplace is the only authorized resale platform and that tickets from third-party sources may be invalidated. StubHub has said the problems were ticket-transfer issues affecting all resale platforms and outside its control, while FIFA has rejected suggestions that its ticketing infrastructure caused the failures. A court has not resolved who is responsible.
What should StubHub World Cup ticket buyers do now?
There is nothing to claim right now because there is no settlement. Buyers whose orders were canceled can pursue a refund directly through StubHub and follow this case for updates. If a class is ever certified and a settlement or judgment results, a formal process with its own eligibility rules and deadlines would be announced. This page is informational and is not legal advice.
Sources
• Class Action Complaint, Moghal v. StubHub, Inc., No. 1:26-cv-05569 (S.D.N.Y., filed June 30, 2026).• FIFA World Cup 2026 Ticket Transfer and Resale Terms (last updated June 18, 2026), § 11.6.
• R.J. Rico and Emilie Megniem, "World Cup ticket buyers are left stranded as resale purchases fall through," Associated Press (June 19, 2026).
• Heather Timmons, "Here's what to do if your StubHub World Cup resale ticket is cancelled," The Guardian (June 27, 2026).
• Shariq Khan and Amy Tennery, "World Cup fans flustered by last-minute StubHub ticket cancellations," Reuters (updated June 29, 2026).
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