World Cup ticket shoppers need to be ready for ‘variable pricing’

The FIFA World Cup will kick off in 275 days at 16 sites across North America

And if you're thinking of attending any of the matches, you should start planning now

The first wave of official ticket sales from FIFA begins Wednesday. If you're a Visa, credit card, debit or prepaid cardholder

you have 10 days to enter a pre-sale lottery of sorts starting Wednesday for the chance to buy those tickets

If you register and you're selected, on October 1st, you can buy up to 4 tickets apiece for as many as 10 matches

Basically 40 tickets in total. FIFA said around a million tickets would likely be available in the first presale for any of the 104 matches of the tournament, including the final

Right now, those tickets are priced between $60 for some group stage matches, all the way up to $6,700 for the final

The catch is those prices could increase the moment they go on sale October 1st because FIFA has implemented a version of dynamic pricing that will fluctuate based on demand

Fans who buy pre-sale tickets will also not know which teams they'll be seeing next summer, nor will they be able to choose their seats

There will be a similar lottery phase for non-visa cardholders in late October

The news that will change sales dramatically comes on December 5th at the Kennedy Center in Washington D when President Donald Trump along with FIFA President Gianni Infantino will unveil the group stage tournament draw It will be broadcasted live all over the

world. We'll have a billion people watching how the 48 countries who qualify for the World Cup

will be drawn in 12 different groups in 16 different venues across the United States

Canada and Mexico. After the draw is announced there will be another random selection lottery

sometime in mid-December to give fans another shot at some premium seats. Prices will increase

once fans know who, when and where their favorite team is playing. And then closer to the tournament

there will be last-minute sales that fans can also join. Is there a way around the lottery system

Yes, if you have the cash. FIFA will set up an official secondary market where fans will be able to buy and sell tickets

The official site will work a lot like StubHub or Venue Kings and will also compete with those websites

The difference between FIFA's resale site and those others is that FIFA can 100% guarantee you'll actually get your tickets

Right now, 18 of 48 total countries are in the field at the World Cup

with 30 more spots up for grabs in qualifying tournaments around the world

Some of those tournaments won't wrap up until mid to late November. For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis