Last fall in Miami, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “Our motto in FIFA is that football, or soccer, unites the world. It brings people together from the entire planet.”That may be true. But for soccer superfans, it comes at a cost — a staggering cost for this World Cup.Ticket prices are setting records, flight prices are soaring alongside oil prices, and hotels are costly. If a fan wants to travel to North America to watch their team play in the group stage, it’ll cost thousands and thousands of dollars.For decades, soccer has been a sport of and for the people: deeply rooted in local communities and national fanbases, relatively simple to play with minimal equipment needs, and ticket prices that most average citizens can painlessly pay.Not this year. Infantino says ticket prices are market-driven. The result is most fans won’t be able to attend the biggest, costliest World Cup ever.
It’s another way prices of things once considered affordable to the middle class – amusement park trips, annual vacations and, yes, live sports – are now out of reach to many.While costly, hotels are not filled, in a sign that some fans might indeed be priced out.In this interactive, you can see how much a World Cup trip – flights and other transit, hotel stays, match tickets, money for food – could cost fans from various countries.
