Data Analysis: Cost Of Attending The 2026 World Cup For All 48 Nations

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, AceOdds has conducted a data analysis exploring how much it would cost the fans of all 48 nations to attend the tournament, assuming they would follow their team through every match all the way to the final.

The analysis includes the cost of:

• Flights (with the journey starting in the nation's capital, continuing through all match locations and ending back in the capital)
• Accommodation (in all the cities where matches will take place)
• Tickets to the matches
• Meals and beverages (three inexpensive meals and three soft drinks per person per day).

You can see the detailed estimated cost of attending the World Cup for all 48 nations in the interactive graphic below.

The graphic below is fully interactive. You can switch between the All 48 Nations view - which shows a ranked breakdown of every nation's total estimated cost - and the Nation Detail view, where you can select any nation from the drop-down to see a full match-by-match cost breakdown. To change the currency, use the drop-down in the top right corner, which will instantly convert all figures across the entire graphic.

Clicking on any bar in the ranked chart will take you straight to that nation's detail page.

Average cost across all 48 nations

On average, following your nation from the opening group stage match all the way to the Final would cost an estimated £47,000 for two people. This covers everything - flights, accommodation, tickets and food and drinks throughout the entire tournament journey.

Breaking that down by category, the average estimated spend for two people would be:

• Tickets: around £23,000
• Accommodation: around £11,000
• Flights: around £9,000
• Food & Drinks: around £4,000

Of course, these figures vary significantly depending on which nation you support, where you would be flying from, which cities your team would play in, and how far they would travel between matches.

Cost for England fans

When looking at England fans, on average, two people would need to spend around £44,000 to attend all the World Cup matches, assuming England win their group and make it all the way to the Final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

In detail, fans would need to spend approximately £24,000 on tickets to all the matches, £3,600 on food and drinks, £7,500 on flights from London to the US, between matches and back to London, and £9,300 on accommodation in the match cities, including Atlanta, Mexico City, Miami and more.

The most and least expensive nations to follow

Of all 48 nations, Iraq fans would face by far the most expensive trip. If they were to follow their team from Baghdad all the way to the Final and back, two people would need to spend an estimated £56,000 (approximately IQD 100 million). The main reason for this is the cost of long-haul flights. Iraq fans would spend an estimated £18,000 on flights alone, which is more than a third of their total budget. Jordan (around £54,000 / approximately JOD 52,000) and Argentina (around £52,000 / approximately ARS 99 million) would round out the top three most expensive nations to follow.

At the other end of the scale, Panama fans would have the most affordable journey, with an estimated total of around £42,000 (approximately $57,000) for two people. Panama's relatively short flights to the host cities and lower accommodation costs along their route keep the overall bill significantly lower than most. The Czech Republic (around £43,000 / approximately CZK 1.27 million) and Mexico (around £44,000 / approximately MX$1.06 million) would be the second and third cheapest nations to follow, respectively.

The difference between the most and least expensive nations is around £14,000 - a gap that is almost entirely driven by the cost of getting there and back, rather than tickets or accommodation.

What's eating up most of the budget?

Regardless of which nation you support, one cost stands out above all others: match tickets. On average across all 48 nations, tickets would account for nearly half - around 50% - of the entire estimated trip cost, amounting to around £23,000 for two people.

It is worth noting that ticket prices in this analysis were sourced from a secondary marketplace and reflect the lowest prices available per match on that platform at the time of research.

The World Cup Final ticket alone is estimated at around £11,600 for two people based on the lowest available secondary market price. That single match would cost more than all three group stage matches combined for the majority of nations.

Flights would be the second biggest expense, making up an average of around 19% of the total cost, though this varies enormously depending on where fans are travelling from. Accommodation would account for around 23% of the total on average, while food and drinks would represent just 8% - the smallest of the four categories.

To put it simply: for most fans, just getting into the games would cost more than everything else put together.

Additionally, with the World Cup fast approaching, many fans will also be keeping a close eye on their nation's chances. If you're looking to compare betting markets across different bookmakers, the AceOdds odds converter can help you quickly convert between fractional, decimal and American odds formats.

METHODOLOGY

1. Accommodation Prices

• Accommodation prices were gathered from Airbnb and Booking.com, with an average calculated across both platforms.
• For each match, it is assumed that fans would be staying in the proximity of the stadium, arriving one day before the match.
• In total, 120,805 accommodation listings were included in the analysis (91,360 on Booking.com and 29,445 on Airbnb).

2. Flight Prices

• Flight prices were gathered from Google Flights, with an average calculated from all economy class fares analysed.
• The starting point of each journey is the capital of the nation in question, with the destination being the nearest major airport to the match stadium. If the next match takes place in the same city, fans are assumed not to travel.
• The final leg of every journey is a return flight from Newark (the Final takes place in East Rutherford, New Jersey) back to the nation's capital.
• In total, 52,769 flights were included in the analysis.

3. Ticket Prices

• Ticket prices were gathered from Livefootballtickets.com, a secondary marketplace, using the lowest available price per match on that platform at the time of research.

4. Food & Drinks Prices

• Food and drinks prices were gathered from Numbeo.
• The combined cost includes three inexpensive meals and three soft drinks per person per day.

5. Currency Conversions

• All figures in this article are quoted in British pounds (GBP), which are used as the base and the most accurate price. The interactive graphics above allow readers to view costs in their local currency. Exchange rates in the graphics are updated in real time and will therefore fluctuate - the converted figures shown may differ slightly from day to day depending on the current rate.

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