2026 World Cup Prices: Tickets & Travel Costs

Whose tournament will it be that begins on June 11th in the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City? That of the English, who remained so impressively safe in qualifying for the World Cup? That of the Spaniards, who at the European Championships in Germany looked like a team that can still win many titles? That of Lionel Messi, who with his team could be the first person since Pelé and Brazil to successfully defend the World Cup title in 1962?

If you can believe the world football association, FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino, above all it will be a tournament for everyone. “The biggest and most inclusive World Cup of all time,” is what Infantino likes to say. And this World Cup will actually be big (some say oversized). 104 football games will be played in five and a half weeks, 72 in the 16 days of the group phase alone.

There are also, keyword inclusive, a few nations that would otherwise not be able to make it to such an event: Cape Verde, for example, Curaçao or Jordan. That doesn’t necessarily help the level of a tournament that will sometimes be played in great heat at the end of a long season. But does anyone want to explain that to the ecstatic Scottish fans who are allowed to travel to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years?

If, as FIFA puts it in its slogans, you want to “unite the world”, if you work “for the game” and “for the world”, then half the world can come when the World Cup is on. But how many ecstatic Scots, how many Jordanians, Argentines and Germans who would like to come can actually come to this World Cup?

If you look at the ticket prices that Infantino’s FIFA published a few weeks ago, you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that most soccer enthusiasts won’t be able to afford this World Cup. A German fan, for example, who wants to see a group game against Curaçao or Ecuador will pay between 155 and 600 euros for a ticket from the German Football Association (DFB) quota alone. For a final ticket he would have to pay between 3,580 and 7,430 euros – with FIFA, not on the secondary market.

The anger about this was recently so great that the world association created a cheaper ticket category – which, however, only contains a few hundred tickets per game. The tournament, which is supposed to be the best, largest, most inclusive World Cup, is by far the most expensive World Cup in history. And it could become a quieter, less colorful, less football-crazy World Cup than is usual. A tournament for the wealthy.

That in turn would suit the wealthy president, who will certainly have a say in how this tournament is run. Not just because Donald Trump’s entry policy could influence this World Cup and because it is unclear how many Iranians, Ivorians or Senegalese are staying at home because of threatened or imposed entry bans.