The headline number matters.
That is the sort of scramble usually seen for finals, not just for access to a lottery. It underlines how strong the appetite already is for 2026, especially in a city that will sit close to the centre of the tournament spotlight. Football does not need help selling the World Cup in this market; scarcity is doing that on its own.
The bigger problem is not that the cap was reached quickly. It is that some eligible fans appear to have been frozen out by the process.
The report says valid New York zip codes were rejected and that the fault appeared to sit with the FEVO ticketing platform rather than with the city’s residency rules. If that proves accurate, the episode becomes less about oversubscription and more about confidence. Fans can accept missing out in a fair queue. They are far less likely to accept being locked out by a form error.
Tournament organisers and local officials still have time to smooth this out. The lottery reportedly remains open each morning until 30 May, with winners due to be notified on 3 June. The next storyline is obvious: whether the system is fixed quickly enough to restore faith before another wave of applicants hits the site.