You’ve probably heard by now that this year’s World Cup is set to be the most expensive yet.
But what does that actually mean for fans?
Ahead of the tournament, Business Insider crunched the numbers to game out how much it would cost a fan to follow their home team through the biggest event in soccer.
Using booking websites and publicly available information from host cities, we calculated how much a fan would spend to attend the event based on four data points: the cost of each game ticket, flights, hotels, and local transit. All flight, ticket, and hotel data was gathered in early May; a fan’s true spend could fluctuate if they book earlier or later.
There are 48 teams competing in this year’s World Cup. The event runs for roughly five weeks, from June 11 to July 19. To narrow down the scope of the experiment, we decided to follow the finalists of the last tournament and two big favorites for the 2026 tournament: Argentina and France.
The results? Get ready to spend.
We found that a dedicated fan could have to shell out over $30,000 to follow one of these two teams the whole way through the tournament.
Attending the group stage will run close to $10,000
Every team competing in the World Cup is guaranteed to play its first three games, no matter if they win or lose. This is called the group stage.
Argentina plays its opening match in Kansas City, followed by two games in Dallas.
Based on our calculations and including game tickets, hotel rooms, flight tickets, and local transit, it would cost a fan from Argentina about $9,800 to see all three games.
Here’s the breakdown:
First, there is the cost of a flight from the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. The cheapest available to Kansas City with a maximum of one layover was over $1,300 with United Airlines.
We also looked at the cheapest three-star hotel in the host city’s downtown area, trying to keep the budget relatively affordable without sacrificing comfort.
Five nights in Kansas City would cost about $1,800, and eight nights in Dallas would cost over $3,000.
And then there’s the game itself.
We looked at the cheapest seats available in early May, and found it would cost $747 for the game in Kansas City against Algeria, $835 for the first game in Dallas against Austria, and $862 for the final game against Jordan.
Add on the $166 Southwest Airlines flight between the two cities, $33 in local transit costs, and some $900 for a flight back to Buenos Aires, and the total is approaching five figures.
How the World Cup dynamic pricing works
FIFA is using dynamic pricing for this year’s World Cup, which means ticket prices have varied widely.
In a statement to Business Insider, FIFA said it is “focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing and prospective fans.”
“FIFA’s variable pricing ticketing approach aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors,” the organization added.
It said it offered 1,000 tickets at $60 each for each match, distributed by each participating country’s governing body for the sport and allocated to loyal fans.
Argentina is ranked third in the world and among the favorites to win, while many also expect this tournament to be the last in which fans can see arguably soccer’s greatest player of all time, Lionel Messi, before retiring.
Meanwhile, it is much cheaper to see some of the smaller teams, which have little hope of getting past the group stage, let alone reaching the final.
For example, the cheapest resale ticket available on Thursday for Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia was $126.51. The two teams are ranked 61st and 69th in the world, respectively.
The cost of going to the World Cup final
What if you were a particularly loyal supporter of your country’s soccer team, determined to see every game in the hopes of witnessing Messi lift the World Cup trophy yet again?
Such a fan would attend five more games: the round of 32, the round 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
The stay in Dallas would last another three nights, bringing the hotel costs to about $3,800.
Presuming Argentina wins their group, they would play their first knockout game in the round of 32 in Miami on July 3.
From here, ticket costs start to balloon. The cheapest available was just over $2,000.
Miami is also one of the most expensive cities for local transit during the World Cup. Brightline, the high-speed train operator, is charging $141 for a round-trip between downtown Miami and Aventura, the closest station to Hard Rock Stadium. That’s over five times as expensive as on a normal day.
Argentina’s route would then continue to Atlanta, then Kansas City for the quarter-finals, back to Atlanta for the semis, before the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
The cheapest ticket for the semi-finals was about $2,500, while the final cost nearly $6,000.
Getting to the stadium will cost $98 for a round-trip train ticket from Manhattan’s Penn Station. NJ Transit originally announced this price at $150 before lowering it thanks to advertising deals.
The cheapest domestic flights between the host cities ranged between $136 and $198.
Overall, following Argentina to the final would cost around $31,000.
The cost of following France
It would be cheaper to follow France all the way to the big game — but not by too much.
The main benefit is that most of its games are scheduled in a smaller area. France’s group stage games are in New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Boston. Then, it’s the same three cities for the first three knockout rounds as well — not to mention the final at MetLife Stadium.
This means our hypothetical fan could base themselves in New York, spending $6,700 on a hotel for almost a monthlong stay.
Amtrak rail tickets between the cities ranged from $25 to $103 when looking in early May.
It would then be a $218 flight to Dallas for the semi-final, plus a $1,000 hotel, then back to New York, and another $1,700 in hotel costs.
Adding the local transit costs — including an $80 rail ticket in Boston — and game tickets, which are similar to Argentina’s, the figure reaches $25,000.
On the other hand, it’s pretty unlikely that somebody would splash out on a hotel for a month in the hopes that their team makes it to the final.
It’s more likely that our hypothetical France supporter might have a friend or family member living in New York.
If they were kind enough to offer free accommodation, the total sum drops to $16,721.
That’s nearly half the hypothetical spending of the Argentina fan.
And yet, it’s still over one-third of the average French person’s annual income, based on the country’s GDP per capita.
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