Why some of the most dedicated FIFA World Cup fans will skip this year’s tournament: Cost, politics and hostility

Football fans will soon cross continents to watch their beloved national teams compete on the sport’s biggest stage, the World Cup. They occupy bars and fan zones, sing chants and debate who will win it all.

This time, however, is different for some superfans, who say the organizers of this summer’s World Cup have made it the least welcoming World Cup they have ever experienced. Ticket prices, expensive cross-country travel and concerns about entering the U.S. have prompted some of them to stay home.

London-based IT worker Mike Wilson has attended four World Cups in the last twenty years. This summer he will be in Europe and watch part of the tournament from a Portuguese beach.

Argentinian doctor Emiliano Becerra is happy to follow his team every step of the elimination round. This time he will attend two early games and then fly home.

Dutch-born financial manager Peter Bergakker flew to South Africa to watch the Netherlands play in the 2010 World Cup final. But no matter how far the Oranje advance this summer, he said he will not travel to the US

It is unclear exactly how many fans will stay away, but the warning signs are there.

A financially inaccessible tournament

The number of fans who can travel and take weeks off to cheer on their team during the World Cup is understandably skewed towards the wealthy. But previous tournaments have remained accessible to fans who, in some cases, would save for years for their flights and match tickets.

Four years ago, Category 3 tickets for group stage matches cost $69. This year FIFA sold them for a whopping $265.

The last two tournaments in Russia and Qatar provided match fans with free transport between the host cities, although many matches were much closer than the vast area covered by the 16 stadiums hosting matches in the US, Canada and Mexico.

And while FIFA had not allowed fans there to sell their tickets on the official resale site for a price above face value, the sport’s governing body has taken a different approach this time around: encouraging fans to resell tickets for as much as they want, with FIFA pocketing 30 percent in fees along the way. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday, but previously defended ticket prices as reflecting «record-breaking» demand.

Tomonori Akutsu, who lives outside Tokyo, said if he had realized how expensive this tournament would be when he started making plans, he might have reconsidered attending his sixth straight World Cup.

He believes the US has undoubtedly been the worst host and that tournament organizers have shown a «complete lack of hospitality in every aspect», citing issues such as ticket prices, an inflated resale market, expensive hotel prices and fan festivals that cost money to attend.

“My impression is simply that this is America, the ultimate capitalism,” Akutsu said.

Becerra, from Argentina, spent $1,100 to see Argentina beat France in the 2022 final in Qatar. He has followed Argentina through the knockout stages in the past three World Cups.

Not this time.

This year he paid even more – $1,200 – for a resale ticket to attend Argentina’s match against lowly ranked Jordan in Dallas.

Will ticket prices cost the World Cup some of its culture?

Wilson, the IT specialist from England, said he and his friends had chosen to skip this summer’s tournament because they couldn’t justify spending the prizes they saw.

Wilson had never spent more than $200 for a World Cup match, a price that would barely buy a nosebleed spot on the resale market in a group match between two obscure teams. Instead, he and his friends booked a getaway to Portugal.

An expensive World Cup will not deter some ardent fans

There is at least one group of supporters who seem determined to come regardless of the cost: the Scots, who are eager to see their team compete in their first World Cup in 28 years.

Campbell Lewis and his friends started booking refundable accommodation in the US as soon as Scotland qualified last year before prices rose.

With tens of thousands of Scottish fans expected to attend, it has proven more difficult to obtain tickets for their team’s matches.

But after prices started to fall in recent weeks, Lewis bought two tickets for Scotland’s second match for him and his 10-year-old son. However, he and his friends are still waiting until the last days for tickets for the team’s opening match against Haiti. As of Thursday, the cheapest resale ticket for that game outside of Boston was more than $600.

“For many Scots of my generation, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said. «We were all kids the last time we qualified. And even though the prizes have gotten out of hand, there’s just the determination that we want to go.»

Fans are concerned about traveling to the US

U.S. entry requirements may also restrict international visitors.

Unlike Russia in 2018, which waived visa requirements for ticket holders, and Qatar in 2022, which streamlined entry for fans, many people traveling to the US still face strict visa requirements. Until the US changed course last month, fans with tickets from Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia had to pay as much as $15,000 in bonds to enter the country.

Carlos Pera, president of the Uruguayan Travel Agents Association, recently told Subrayado in Uruguay that the U.S. visa requirement was one of the reasons fewer Uruguayans are making the trip this year.

For some fans, however, the concern goes beyond visas and costs.

Bergakker, a 48-year-old Dutch financial controller who lives near Heidelberg, Germany, said President Donald Trump’s «hostile» approach toward European allies has changed his view on travel to the US.

Published on June 5, 2026