A Houston soccer fan says he spent $22,000 on FIFA World Cup hospitality packages after seeing seating diagrams that made him believe his group would be closer to the field.
Saad Qureshi told KPRC 2 that he bought five hospitality packages through On Location, FIFA’s official hospitality provider, for two World Cup matches in Houston. KPRC reviewed documents showing the packages cost a total of $22,000.
Qureshi said months of messages with a sales representative led him to expect seats in lower-level sections near the pitch. When the seat assignments were released, he said his group was listed in Section 308, in the upper deck.
The dispute is now part of a wider consumer fight over expensive World Cup tickets in Texas, where the attorney general’s office has opened an investigation into whether fans were misled about seat locations and ticket categories.
The Seating Diagrams Showed Lower-Level Areas
Qureshi provided KPRC with text messages exchanged with an On Location sales representative identified as Eric. In those messages, he repeatedly asked about seating locations, sightlines, and hospitality options before choosing the Champions Club package.
KPRC reported that the representative sent stadium diagrams with specific areas highlighted in red and discussed price differences based on how close seats would be to the field. Qureshi said he understood those conversations to mean his group would be seated in the Champions section shown during the sales process.
“He told me this is the Champions section, this is where you’re sitting,” Qureshi told KPRC.
The Final Assignment Put Him in Section 308
When Qureshi later received his final seat information, he said the assignment did not match what he believed he had bought. Instead of the lower-level area he expected, his seats were listed in Section 308.
Qureshi described the issue in documentation submitted to FIFA and On Location as a “material seating-location discrepancy,” according to KPRC. He asked to be moved to the area he said had been represented during the sale.
The complaint is not that Qureshi failed to receive hospitality access at all. His concern, as he described it to the station, was that the actual view of the match did not match the seating areas he said were shown before he paid.
The Hospitality Provider Called It an Upgrade
Qureshi told KPRC that after contacting On Location and FIFA hospitality representatives, he was told the reassignment was a complimentary upgrade because it included access to a higher level of hospitality service.
An email reviewed by the station said the new package would provide access to a “higher level of service.” Qureshi disagreed with that explanation because the seat location, not only the hospitality lounge or service level, was central to what he believed he was buying.
“From my perspective and my friends’ perspective, it’s not an upgrade, because we paid for actually watching the game,” he told KPRC.
The Fine Print Gives Sellers Room
KPRC reviewed FIFA World Cup 2026 Hospitality Sales Regulations and reported that the terms say an order confirmation only indicates availability and does not guarantee that a customer will receive specific hospitality packages.
The regulations also say sales materials, illustrations, and descriptions are meant to provide only an approximate idea of hospitality packages and do not form part of the sales agreement, according to KPRC. The terms further state that On Location sales agents do not have authority to make guarantees, commitments, or warranties on behalf of the company.
Qureshi told KPRC that no one verbally told him the seating sections shown in the diagrams were not guaranteed. For buyers spending thousands on major-event packages, that gap between sales conversations and written terms can become the whole dispute once final seat assignments are released.
Texas Is Investigating FIFA Ticket Complaints
Qureshi said he filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney General’s Office and hopes FIFA and On Location reconsider his seating assignment or offer another resolution.
The complaint comes as the Texas Attorney General has opened an investigation into FIFA over allegations that fans were misled about the location and quality of seats sold for 2026 World Cup matches in Texas.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said it had received several consumer complaints from fans who said they were assigned seats with less desirable views than originally represented. The state said the investigation will examine whether FIFA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by misrepresenting ticket seat locations and categories during the sales process.
The Texas AG’s office has not said FIFA violated the law. The investigation is meant to determine whether any consumer-protection violations occurred.
A law firm, Zimmerman Reed, has also launched a ticket sales investigation into reports from fans who say they bought World Cup tickets and received seats in a lower category than the one they paid for. That does not mean a lawsuit has resolved the issue or that FIFA has been found liable.
KPRC said it reached out to On Location for comment about Qureshi’s concerns and the communications he provided. The station reported that no response had been received at the time of publication.
For fans spending thousands on major-event packages, the documents matter. Seating diagrams, messages, invoices, order confirmations, and terms pages may become the only clear record of what was represented before the purchase and what was assigned afterward.