Soccer fans will soon be traveling across continents to watch their favorite national teams compete on the sport’s grandest stage: the World Cup. They fill bars and fan zones, chanting and debating who will win it all.
But for some superfans, this time is different. Organizers claim to have planned this summer’s tournament world cup The most unwelcoming thing they’ve ever experienced. Ticket priceconcerns about expensive cross-border travel and entering the United States are causing some people to stay home.
London-based IT worker Mike Wilson has played in four World Cups in the past 20 years. He will be in Europe this summer, watching some of the tournament from the beaches of Portugal.
Argentine doctor Emiliano Becerra likes to follow the team at every stage of the qualifying rounds. This time, he plans to participate in the first two games and then fly back home.
Dutch-born financial manager Peter Bergacker flew to South Africa to watch the Netherlands play in the 2010 World Cup final. But no matter how far “Orange” progresses this summer, he said he will not travel to the United States.
It’s unclear exactly how many fans are staying away, but there are red flags.
Hotel reservation completed lighter than expected It is held in many host cities in the United States. Meanwhile, the president of Uruguay’s soccer-mad travel agency association said he had arranged package tours for about 3,000 fans, significantly fewer than those who attended the recent World Cup.
Tournaments that are not financially accessible
The number of fans who can travel or take weeks off from work to support their team during the World Cup is understandably skewed towards the wealthy. But access to past tournaments has been available for fans who save years on airline tickets and game tickets in some cases.
Four years ago, a ticket to a lower Category 3 group stage game cost $69. This year, FIFA is selling them for up to $265.
The last two tournaments in Russia and Qatar allowed fans to attend games Free transportation between host citiesHowever, many matches were much closer together than the vast area covered by the 16 stadiums hosting matches in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
And while local fans were not allowed by FIFA to sell tickets above face value on official resale sites, the sport’s governing body took a different approach this time, encouraging fans to resell tickets for as high as they wanted, with FIFA taking a 30% commission along the way. FIFA did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday, but has previously defended ticket prices as reflecting “record” demand.
Tomonori Akutsu, who lives on the outskirts of Tokyo, said he might have reconsidered playing in his sixth consecutive World Cup if he had known how expensive the tournament would be when he started planning.
Without a doubt, the United States is the worst host country, and he believes tournament organizers have shown a “total lack of hospitality on all fronts,” citing soaring ticket prices, resale markets, soaring hotel costs, and expensive fan festivals.
“My impression is simply that this is America, the ultimate capitalism,” Akutsu says.
Argentina’s Becerra spent $1,100 to see it. Argentina defeats France 2022 finals in Qatar. In the past three World Cups, they followed Argentina all the way to the finals.
Not this time.
This year, he paid an even higher price, $1,200, for a resale ticket to see Argentina play lowly Jordan in Dallas.
“It’s just crazy. It’s just a group stage match,” said Becerra, a 64-year-old ophthalmologist from Neuquén in northern Patagonia.
Becerra plans to return home before the knockout stage begins. That price, he says, is “no way I can do it.”
Will ticket prices come at the expense of World Cup culture?
Mr Wilson, an IT specialist from the UK, said he and his friends decided to skip the tournament this summer because they couldn’t justify spending a significant amount of money.
Wilson has never spent more than $200 on a World Cup game, a price he can afford on the resale market even if he gets a nosebleed during a group stage game between unknown teams. Instead, he and his friends booked a vacation in Portugal.
For Wilson, the World Cup is more about the atmosphere than the game.
“That’s the great thing about these tournaments, you sit in your hostel and chat with the American fans, and then you go to the bar down the street and there’s a bunch of Chileans who just took over the place,” Wilson said, recalling a memorable night in Johannesburg in 2010. “That’s what makes the World Cup. But now they’re just buying everyone up.”
Mark Doidge, a sociologist at England’s Loughborough University, said the World Cup had long been defined by traveling supporters, pointing to Colombia’s famous “Birdman” and a sea of St George’s crosses at each England match. Rising costs risk losing those very fans, he said.
“Most of the people who are buying expensive tickets are not die-hard fans, they’re wealthy people who are paying for the experience,” he says.
The high cost of the World Cup doesn’t deter some die-hard fans
At least one group of supporters seems determined to come, no matter the cost. Scots are keen to see their team compete. First World Cup in 28 years.
Campbell-Lewis and his friends started booking refundable accommodation across the country as soon as Scotland qualified last year, before prices skyrocketed.
Tickets for their team’s matches are proving difficult to get, with tens of thousands of Scottish fans expected to attend.
But prices have started to fall in recent weeks, so Lewis bought two tickets for himself and his 10-year-old son to the second leg against Scotland. But he and his friends are still waiting until the last day to get tickets to the team’s season opener against Haiti. As of Thursday, the cheapest resale ticket for the game outside of Boston was more than $600.
“For many Scots of my generation, this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he says. “We were all kids the last time we qualified, and there’s just the determination that we want to go even if the price gets out of hand.”
Fans are concerned about traveling to the US
International visitors may also be restricted due to U.S. entry requirements.
Unlike Russia in 2018, which waived visa requirements for ticket holders, and Qatar in 2022, which streamlined entry for fans, many travelers to the United States still face strict visa requirements. to The US reversed course last monthfans with tickets from Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia even had to pay bails as high as $15,000 to enter the country.
Carlos Pera, president of the Uruguayan Association of Travel Agents, recently said: He spoke to Mr. Subrayado of Uruguay. One reason fewer Uruguayans are traveling this year is U.S. visa requirements.
U.S. officials have trumped concerns about visitors encountering an unwelcoming environment, and the White House’s World Cup task force has emphasized efforts to prioritize visa interviews for fans with tickets. Task force leader Andrew Giuliani on Thursday dismissed concerns that traditional road supporters would be turned away.
“For superfans and first-time visitors alike, we want you to know: America welcomes you to the greatest World Cup in history,” he said in a statement.
But for some fans, there are concerns beyond visas and costs.
Bergacker, a 48-year-old Dutch financial manager who lives near Heidelberg, Germany, said President Donald Trump’s “hostile” approach toward European allies has changed his view of U.S. travel.
Bergacker, who has played in two World Cups and four European Championships, said he was highly susceptible to “orange coat”, the orange fever that attacks Dutch fans as the tournament progresses.
No matter the price of the ticket, you would normally be able to get him on a plane just by driving deep into the Netherlands. But Burgucker said the White House rejected concerns that criticism of Trump on social media could cause problems at the border. A spokeswoman said Thursday that Customs and Border Protection’s proposal to scrutinize the social media accounts of World Cup visitors was never enacted.
Still, Bergacker said, as long as Trump is president, “this Oranhe fan will not visit.”
___
Rico reported from Atlanta. Associated Press reporter Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo; and Mike Corder (The Hague, Netherlands). Gisela Salomon and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed to this report.
