World Cup World Cup 2026

Obviously it’s coming home, wonder how much it would cost to watch every game with travel, hotels, food and drink etc to follow England throughout the tournament? Got to be north of £20K? Think a combination of the sofa and the pub for matches is looking more likely at this stage, might have left saving up a bit late.

Can see why a lot of young lads just book a holiday in a lively Spanish holiday resort during the tournament, you get the atmosphere for the matches and a holiday and save thousands.
 
holdsteady said:
Obviously it’s coming home, wonder how much it would cost to watch every game with travel, hotels, food and drink etc to follow England throughout the tournament? Got to be north of £20K? Think a combination of the sofa and the pub for matches is looking more likely at this stage, might have left saving up a bit late.
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Only little people have to save up.

Imagine how the ordinary working man in Paraguay / Senegal / Colombia / Jordan / Haiti wil afford it.

It's not for us.
 
And how much must each tv zender pay to show matches?
 
It’s going to be a tacky fest of football (soccer) anyway.

Less about the sport and more about half time entertainment probably.

What a joke.

Sadly people will still pay the ludicrous prices and continue to drive them up in the future.

People need their heads examined if they travel and swallow this bullshit.

You could have a 10 year OUFC season ticket for a fraction of the cost.
 
That pricing is a complete disgrace, and for the governing body of world football to act in such a nefarious, grotesquely greedy manner will only accelerate further all of football’s worrying progress away from genuine fans, working class people, families and proper atmospheres - towards the world of trying to milk wealthy football tourists of every penny in their wallet.

FIFA doing this at the top of the game well only embolden the biggest teams across the world to max out their prices in the exact same way. Why should Man Utd, Chelsea, Madrid or Barcelona charge less when FIFA and the World Cup can charge that? The clubs will feel it’s them that are paying the players and providing all the stars for the tournament - so if FIFA have games where they make hundreds of millions in ticket revenue why shouldn’t they? (Will be the thought process).

If these tickets sell at these prices, it will reverberate around football. UEFA & the top European clubs will immediately feel the need to increase Champions League (which they would argue is a competition of comparable status to the World Cup) tickets - or progress more quickly back to the Super League idea. At a level like the English EFL the gaps between the PL and Champ, and then the leagues lower down will grow. Teams will increase prices to try to compete. In countries without such a strong football league pyramid, power will concentrate even more into the hands of the very small, powerful clubs.

Honestly it’s hideous. I hope it fails, and they get worse crowds than Qatar. FIFA are beyond the pale at this point. Blatter. Infantino. Constantly wanting to expand the competition so it ends up lasting about 4 months with all but 4 world nations qualifying. Genuine football fans around the world should be furious about this.
 
As a local (I live within an hour's drive of both MetLife Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field in Philly), there's a chance that FIFA's ridiculous pricing may actually favour me.

All the sales to the national federations are going to follow this ludicrous pricing model; but once all the ballots are done, remaining tickets are going to be sold on a dynamic pricing model i.e. more demand, higher price; less demand, lower price. If people aren't willing to pay the absurd prices, especially for the lower profile games (are 70,000 people really going to fork out hundreds of dollars to watch Ivory Coast vs. Curacao?) then I'm hopeful of being able to pick up some tickets on the relative cheap at the last minute.

But that is of course ludicrous in itself, because it means that the grounds are going to be full of neutrals, with less of the colour and passion you would expect from a World Cup because none except for the richest of fans is going to be able to afford to travel for it (although there are of course expats from literally everywhere here, particularly in NY/NJ).
 
tonyw said:
As a local (I live within an hour's drive of both MetLife Stadium and Lincoln Financial Field in Philly), there's a chance that FIFA's ridiculous pricing may actually favour me.

All the sales to the national federations are going to follow this ludicrous pricing model; but once all the ballots are done, remaining tickets are going to be sold on a dynamic pricing model i.e. more demand, higher price; less demand, lower price. If people aren't willing to pay the absurd prices, especially for the lower profile games (are 70,000 people really going to fork out hundreds of dollars to watch Ivory Coast vs. Curacao?) then I'm hopeful of being able to pick up some tickets on the relative cheap at the last minute.

But that is of course ludicrous in itself, because it means that the grounds are going to be full of neutrals, with less of the colour and passion you would expect from a World Cup because none except for the richest of fans is going to be able to afford to travel for it (although there are of course expats from literally everywhere here, particularly in NY/NJ).
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The only thing wrong with that theory is alongside the ex pats the US has a huge number of, what we would consider, wealthy people, when I was there I was surprised how expensive things could be but still in demand, then you realise it’s because it’s middle class is the largest and richest in the world (and probably history), they/you have the worlds biggest economy.

So they might be into “soccer” but it’s an event and people with a decent disposable income enjoy them, especially in the instagram age, so these tickets will probably sell well enough, FIFA are many things but stupid is not one of them, there is a reason it’s back in the US 32 years later despite it (obviously ignoring Mexicos involvement here) not being a football hotbed.
 
holdsteady said:
The only thing wrong with that theory is alongside the ex pats the US has a huge number of, what we would consider, wealthy people, when I was there I was surprised how expensive things could be but still in demand, then you realise it’s because it’s middle class is the largest and richest in the world (and probably history), they/you have the worlds biggest economy.

So they might be into “soccer” but it’s an event and people with a decent disposable income enjoy them, especially in the instagram age, so these tickets will probably sell well enough, FIFA are many things but stupid is not one of them, there is a reason it’s back in the US 32 years later despite it (obviously ignoring Mexicos involvement here) not being a football hotbed.
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Very true, and we'll see.

I will say that the World Cup getting almost no attention here at the moment - there was maybe a buried headline or two when the draw took place, but it quickly disappeared as sports fans got back to focusing on the end of the "football" season. I don't think there's going to be any general excitement until we get very close to the tournament itself, when there's no other sport going on but the grind of the middle of the baseball season.

But my post wasn't designed to say that FIFA are stupid. What they are doing here is applying classic first degree price discrimination. They are likely to sell every ticket to every game, and they are making sure that they are charging the highest price that the buyer is willing to pay for every one of those tickets. I'm just hopeful for some of the games, the demand isn't there and that the prices come down to something less eye-watering. If 70,000 people do want to play hundreds of dollars to watch Ivory Coast vs. Curacao......fair enough. I don't, so will be content with watching it on TV!

It's something that the US sports fan is pretty used to. I have often used the secondary market for getting tickets, particularly to see the Chargers play. I've paid $150+ for a crappy nosebleed seat for a high profile game, and I've paid $10 the day before for one of the best seats in the house at MetLife (although it was Christmas Eve, frickin' freezing and they were playing a very, very bad Jets team). You just decide what you're willing to pay, and then wait and see.

The problem for a World Cup is that people traveling from other countries can't play that game. And they're clearly getting screwed over by FIFA here.
 
tonyw said:
Very true, and we'll see.

I will say that the World Cup getting almost no attention here at the moment - there was maybe a buried headline or two when the draw took place, but it quickly disappeared as sports fans got back to focusing on the end of the "football" season. I don't think there's going to be any general excitement until we get very close to the tournament itself, when there's no other sport going on but the grind of the middle of the baseball season.

But my post wasn't designed to say that FIFA are stupid. What they are doing here is applying classic first degree price discrimination. They are likely to sell every ticket to every game, and they are making sure that they are charging the highest price that the buyer is willing to pay for every one of those tickets. I'm just hopeful for some of the games, the demand isn't there and that the prices come down to something less eye-watering. If 70,000 people do want to play hundreds of dollars to watch Ivory Coast vs. Curacao......fair enough. I don't, so will be content with watching it on TV!

It's something that the US sports fan is pretty used to. I have often used the secondary market for getting tickets, particularly to see the Chargers play. I've paid $150+ for a crappy nosebleed seat for a high profile game, and I've paid $10 the day before for one of the best seats in the house at MetLife (although it was Christmas Eve, frickin' freezing and they were playing a very, very bad Jets team). You just decide what you're willing to pay, and then wait and see.

The problem for a World Cup is that people traveling from other countries can't play that game. And they're clearly getting screwed over by FIFA here.
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It’s certainly a gamble to travel to the US in the off chance tickets drop to a price you are willing/able to pay, but plenty will I suppose.

I sort of wonder what FIFA is actually going to do with all this money, they must have enough to have built the spectre style underground bunker from which the giant laser emerges to use to blackmail the worlds governments, they have been a criminal organisation for ages now.
 
No criticism of World Cup ticket prices can be expected from the government. This from the Guardian:

Keir Starmer’s spokesperson has confirmed that the government would not be getting involved in the dispute: “That’s clearly a matter for Fifa to speak to. The prime minister would always hope that any major sporting event was accessible to as many people as possible, but it’s for Fifa to speak to their ticketing policies, not for me.”
 
chuckbert said:
I think the politics surrounding the locations of the last 2 world cups has taken a bit of the shine off.
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Yes, i think a lot of the kids in primary school now won’t have the same nostalgia for these tournaments that we have for Italia 90 or Euro 96 and the local political scheme/ FIFA internal voting processes will be to blame. My kid is planning to boycott.
 
lodeyellow said:
No criticism of World Cup ticket prices can be expected from the government. This from the Guardian:

Keir Starmer’s spokesperson has confirmed that the government would not be getting involved in the dispute: “That’s clearly a matter for Fifa to speak to. The prime minister would always hope that any major sporting event was accessible to as many people as possible, but it’s for Fifa to speak to their ticketing policies, not for me.”
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WANTED: Prime Ministers Backbone

£10,000 reward for safe return.
 
Surely a dyed in the wool (ex?)Tory would relish the pricing, it being a freemarket economy, without any socialist interventions. What would you expect him to do anyway? Tut loudly whilst infantile pandered to the 🍊 ego?

The 5 million who applied for tickets yesterday seem happy enough......
 
www.bbc.co.uk

Fifa president Gianni Infantino called 'infantile' for wanting to lift Russia ban

Ukraine's sports minister calls Fifa president Gianni Infantino "irresponsible" and "infantile" for saying it will look at lifting a ban on Russia.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Egg with eyebrows aiming to do something stupid.

It’s astonishing what FIFA choose to get away with yet no FA or any confederation have the guts to do anything about it.
 
unification said:
www.bbc.co.uk

Fifa president Gianni Infantino called 'infantile' for wanting to lift Russia ban

Ukraine's sports minister calls Fifa president Gianni Infantino "irresponsible" and "infantile" for saying it will look at lifting a ban on Russia.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

Egg with eyebrows aiming to do something stupid.

It’s astonishing what FIFA choose to get away with yet no FA or any confederation have the guts to do anything about it.
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Fans from half the countries involved will be banned anyway due to looking a bit foreign.
 
The WC has become a bit (!) of a bloated nightmare and the prices for those attending are scandalous. FIFA looks as dodgy as it ever did (if not more so) and I very much suspect that this year's competition is going to be dominated by 'news' rather than 'football'.

Will I watch bits of it? Yes probably. The England games are of some interest as are some of the more bizarre matchups.

But after the Qatar madness and the current state of the USA, the 2030 competition (Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay) looks just as crazy!
 
ZeroTheHero said:
The WC has become a bit (!) of a bloated nightmare and the prices for those attending are scandalous. FIFA looks as dodgy as it ever did (if not more so) and I very much suspect that this year's competition is going to be dominated by 'news' rather than 'football'.

Will I watch bits of it? Yes probably. The England games are of some interest as are some of the more bizarre matchups.

But after the Qatar madness and the current state of the USA, the 2030 competition (Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay) looks just as crazy!
Click to expand...

One thing I have finally come to realise about FIFA is that just when you think they have hit peak corrupt/mental they manage to surprise you and go further. Although the real surprise now would be if they did something normal I suppose, like just organise a straight forward football tournament.
 
holdsteady said:
One thing I have finally come to realise about FIFA is that just when you think they have hit peak corrupt/mental they manage to surprise you and go further. Although the real surprise now would be if they did something normal I suppose, like just organise a straight forward football tournament.
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You do get the impression that for the organisers, it is less to do with football, more to do with money. I keep hoping that I am just old and cynical (and I am) and that is not true, but they never fail to be more ridiculous than the last time! I am waiting to see who gets the next FIFA medal - I suspect it will be Trump again for services to football or something!
 
ZeroTheHero said:
You do get the impression that for the organisers, it is less to do with football, more to do with money. I keep hoping that I am just old and cynical (and I am) and that is not true, but they never fail to be more ridiculous than the last time! I am waiting to see who gets the next FIFA medal - I suspect it will be Trump again for services to football or something!
Click to expand...


download.jpg
 
ZeroTheHero said:
You do get the impression that for the organisers, it is less to do with football, more to do with money.
Click to expand...

I'm also starting to realize that they are going to make a staggering amount of money this summer too, because it seems that a lot of Americans are going to be crazy enough to pay their prices. I have friends who aren't really into football buying up tickets left and right. And my sister-in-law rang me up last week super-excited because she'd found some tickets for the England-Panama game just down the road from us. "How Much?" I asked - $1,300 a pop!!

I said no thank you - for that price rather than take my family to see the game, we could all fly back to London to see the yellows play! In Economy Plus probably!
 
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