The 2026 World Cup kicks off on the 11th of June and is set to be the biggest iteration of the tournament to date. More teams than ever have qualified, with 48 nations set to compete, as opposed to the 32 we’ve seen in the most recent tournaments. That means more matches packed into the tight 39-day schedule and more fans flocking to stadiums.
But with spiralling ticket prices, can your average football fan actually afford to attend the 2026 World Cup? At AskGamblers, we’ve done the maths and found that some fans would have to work for years to be able to afford to attend a single game.
Fans Priced Out of the World Cup
Fans looking to travel to the 2026 World Cup have been hit by high ticket, transport and accommodation costs. For some, attending the matches is completely out of the question.
A Haitian fan on the country’s minimum wage would have to pay over 24 years' worth of salary to attend their opening match against Scotland.
Methodology: How Did We Calculate Affordability?
For each nation attending the World Cup, we found the price of a round-trip flight to the host city and the cost of the average ticket to their opening match.
To account for the full experience, we also included the price of a hotel for a night, public transport to and from the stadium and a hot dog and a drink at the game. Once we had all that data, we totalled them up for the overall cost of attending the opening match for each nation.
We found the minimum and average wage of each country and multiplied it to produce a value for an average day’s work. Using the total we’d calculated earlier, we divided it by the wage of a day’s work (on both minimum and average wages). That allowed us to compare and rank the affordability of the World Cup for each country.
It’s worth noting we didn’t account for additional expenses like food and drink outside the stadium or even visas for those who need them.
If you wish to check the numbers for a specific country that qualified for the World Cup, you can do it here:
Years of Work to Attend One Match
For some fans, it would take years of work on minimum wage to earn enough money to travel to, attend the opening match and stay in the host city.
Here are the three countries which would require the most days of work on minimum wage:
- Haiti: 9040.2 days, 24.6 years
- Panama: 3238.4 days, 8.9 years
- Iran: 2266.2 days, 6.2 years
Although it looks a little better when considering the average wage of each country, it would still take some fans years to afford to attend a match.
Here are the three countries which would require the most days of work on their average wage:
- Iran: 1703.8 days, 4.7 years
- Uzbekistan: 430.8 days, 1.2 years
- Egypt: 232.7 days, 0.6 years
It’s also worth noting that our calculations were based on the assumption that 100% of the fans’ wages went towards the World Cup. When we account for things like rent, food and bills, the reality is that it would take some fans until the 2034 World Cup to earn enough to attend this one.
What Makes the 2026 World Cup So Expensive?
There are a lot of reasons that the 2026 World Cup is set to be one of the most expensive on record. Firstly, FIFA’s decision to have the tournament spanning a whole continent with games in Mexico, Canada and the USA means considerable travel costs for fans.
A Sprawling World Cup
Earlier, we only looked at how much it would cost to attend a single match. But when fans factor in the costs of flights and hotels for multiple group games, that's when costs start to spiral.
Here’s how many days of work on average wage it would take an Iranian fan to be able to afford to attend all three group matches.
- Match One: 1703.8 days
- Match Two: 1703.8 days
- Match Three: 1875 days
- Total days of average wage work needed = 5,282.6 days or 14.5 years
In that shocking total of 14.5 years, we haven’t even accounted for the cost of hotel stays and food in between matches or the cost of travel between cities. When we consider all of that, it is clear that the average fan has been priced out of this World Cup.
While Iran is the most extreme example, even for fans of the favourites to win the tournament, Spain, it would take over a month’s worth of average earnings.
- Match One: 10.6 days
- Match Two: 11.8 days
- Match Three: 14.1 days
- Total days of average wage work needed = 36.5 days or a tenth of a year
2026 World Cup Affordability
Here’s how many days of work on an average wage it would take someone from each nation to be able to afford one World Cup game.
Public Transport Price Hikes
One thing that won’t help to ease the strain on fans’ wallets is the hike in transport prices in host cities. In some US cities, fans could find themselves having to pay over $100 each way to and from games.
Authorities in New Jersey are proposing to hike train ticket prices between New York’s Penn Station and the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford by almost $90. The standard fare for the route is $12.90, but soccer fans will be paying over $100.
The Governor of New Jersey has called on FIFA to subsidise the tickets in order to prevent fans or commuters from having to pay a fortune for them in the future.
The majority of the stadiums being used are based around a 30-minute drive from the city centres, so the alternative to public transport is no better for fans. Stadiums like Kansas City, Miami and Dallas have no public transport stops within a ten-minute walk of the stadium. That leaves many fans with no option but to pay for expensive hire cars or cabs.
High Match Ticket Prices
Even the actual tickets at the 2026 World Cup have raised eyebrows when it comes to price. In the first open sale, it was reported that FIFA was charging up to $10,990 for a single ticket to the final. Tickets for equivalent seats at the Qatar final cost $1,604, and the 2026 hosts said they would be capped at $1,550 in their bid for the tournament.
Instead, the 2026 World Cup final has quickly become the most expensive general admission to a football match ever.
The prices on resale sites are even more eye-watering, with a single ticket to the final setting fans back as much as $82,000.
In an attempt to make the tournament more affordable, FIFA introduced a very limited number of $60 tickets. However, when eager European fans went to buy them, they found the lowest they could pay was actually $4,185, seven times the price of the cheapest ticket at Qatar.
Ticket prices have been so contentious that the European Commission has even received a formal complaint. It accuses FIFA of running a monopoly in terms of ticket sales, allowing it to hike ticket prices.
Has FIFA Lost Touch with Fans?
It’s hard to oppose the concern that FIFA has lost touch with the average fan when attending a single game could cost fans years of work on the average wage. Even for those supporting Spain, the favourites to lift the trophy, attending the group stage matches would cost over a month’s work on the average wage.
That’s before we take into consideration the price of travel between the host cities, almost all of which are at least a flight away from each other.
Addressing the spiralling cost of tickets and public transport should be a priority for FIFA ahead of the 2030 World Cup, which is set to be hosted across Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
Sources
We have consulted multiple sources for hotel costs, public transportation, match ticket prices, flights, and minimum and average salary information for all participating countries, including but not limited to:
