Switzerland’s gambling authority is currently evaluating whether FIFA’s “Right to Buy” token system, aimed at the upcoming 2026 World Cup, aligns with gambling regulations as reported by Bloomberg. No misconduct has been suggested at this point.

Gespa is investigating if these tokens—which can be traded on FIFA’s NFT marketplace—are akin to gambling or merely act as purchase prerequisites. FIFA refers to the international governing body of soccer, known as the Fédération Internationale de Football Association.

As of now, no allegations of impropriety have been stated, and the authority is gathering information to decide whether intervention is necessary, according to Director Manuel Richard.

These RTB tokens are NFTs allowing purchasers a designated timeline to buy tickets for specific matches. They do not represent tickets themselves but grant the right to buy tickets at their original price if the designated conditions are met.

FIFA initially introduced the “Right-to-Buy” (RTB) tokens for the 2024 World Cup Final, providing 1,000 RTB opportunities for fans. Each team-linked RTB activates if that team qualifies for the event. These tokens are also tradable on the secondary market through FIFA’s NFT marketplace, supported by Web3 partner Modex.

For the 2026 World Cup, which will occur across the US, Canada, and Mexico, RTB tokens are priced between $299 and $999 based on team affiliation. Many of these tokens have already sold out, priced according to the likelihood of team success—less favored teams are cheaper, while the top teams like Argentina, Brazil, and England are priced higher.

FIFA created the RTBs to help manage the significant demand for match tickets, evident from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar where 3.4 million tickets were requested from around 23 million applications.

Cointelegraph attempted to gather comments from FIFA but received no feedback by the time of publishing.

FIFA’s Interest in NFT Technology

NFTs represent unique blockchain tokens that authenticate ownership over specific assets. Despite the peak of the NFT market in 2021-2022, FIFA persists in employing NFT technology for digital collectibles, ticketing rights, and gaming.

The organization first began exploring Web3 and NFTs in 2022 with the launch of FIFA Collect on the Algorand blockchain.

In December 2023, preceding the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, FIFA and Modex introduced 1,000 NFTs, including 100 that provide a chance to win tickets to the 2026 World Cup final and 900 additional collectible NFTs produced on the Polygon network.

In May, FIFA opted to transition from Algorand to Avalanche for its NFT marketplace and collection, which will support the creation of its own layer-1 blockchain.

Francesco Abbate, CEO of Modex and FIFA Collect, stated that AvaCloud’s EVM-compatible stack facilitates integration with mainstream wallets and decentralized applications.

With an estimated global fan base exceeding five billion, Avalanche Subnets will enable FIFA to operate a customized, adjustable chain to effectively manage traffic surges related to major events like the World Cup.