Stephanie Fred of Bristol Township said her 9-year-old son, Levi, had been thrilled to learn he would see the France-Iraq match.
"It's once in a lifetime," she said.
Levi added, "It was really big for me because it was my first time seeing my favorite player play."
Fred said the family bought five tickets for more than $5,000 on StubHub but never received them.
On game day, she spent hours on the phone with customer service while Levi waited outside the stadium with relatives. They never made it inside.
"I was very sad," Levi said.
Fred said the experience was crushing.
"We come from North Philly so these opportunities aren't given to us a lot. So for us to work so hard to give our kids a life that we didn't have and give them the opportunities we didn't have, and for it to be ripped apart, it was super sad."
Fans across the country reported similar problems.
Georgette Luna of Fishtown said she surprised her father with tickets to the Brazil-Haiti match, spending about $3,000, but the tickets never transferred.
"It just felt like a massive disappointment. That train ride home was one of the hardest train rides home," she said.
StubHub said sellers must transfer tickets through the FIFA app and blamed the issues on the event organizer's system.
"The issues fans have experienced at this World Cup are largely driven by performance problems with the event organizer's own ticketing infrastructure, which has created transfer failures across all resale platforms," the company said in a statement.
StubHub said its FanProtect Guarantee ensures customers receive replacement tickets or a refund.
FIFA responded that its official website and resale platform are the only channels it can guarantee for valid tickets.
"FIFA.com/tickets (primary ticket sales and the official resale/exchange platform) is the official ticket sales channel for the FIFA World Cup 2026. FIFA can guarantee the validity and delivery of tickets purchased through its official platforms," the organization said.
StubHub said both Fred's and Luna's families will receive refunds and tickets to another match.
Luna said the replacement tickets arrived quickly and that she hopes to see policy changes to prevent similar problems.
"The keywords that they said was the tickets were pre-uploaded, and so why is that not a standard?" she said. "If I'm giving you money, if I'm giving you the faith that you're going to provide me a service, that needs to be provided. That's just a consumer basic."
Another fan said he had a similar experience with SeatGeek after flying from Florida for a match. He said he never received the three tickets he purchased.
SeatGeek said it will refund him and provide a $520 credit.
"While the vast majority of World Cup orders on SeatGeek have been fulfilled successfully, in this instance, a seller was unable to deliver the tickets, and we did not secure replacement tickets before kickoff," the company said. "We have apologized to the customer and we're working directly with them to resolve."
Despite the setbacks, the affected families said they are relieved to finally have valid tickets for upcoming games.