Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.How much does it cost to attend the 2026 World Cup?The simplest answer: more than ever before.The nuanced answer: it depends — on where you want to go, which teams you want to see, how close to the action you want to be and how you plan to get there. Ticket prices have dominated discussions around the expense of this World Cup. But they are only a fraction of the financial barriers. Flights, hotels, trains, parking and more are adding to nearly every fan’s price tag. And that’s all before you have a drink or something to eat at the game.So, to analyze the true cost of attendance, The Athletic built a calculator to help you tally up the three main costs: one match ticket, transportation and lodging.The calculator is, by necessity, imperfect. It does not factor in expenses like food or transport — surge-priced Ubers to and from the game, or a $98 train to MetLife Stadium, or a $250 parking spot in Los Angeles.But it uses ticket and hotel pricing data compiled by The Athletic and then allows you to personalize the calculation. Just choose your team, city or round; then select a specific match and a ticket category. (Category 1 tickets generally include seats in a stadium’s lower bowl, while Category 3 tickets are the farthest from the field and least desirable.) Finally, adjust the sliders to approximate what you’d spend on transportation and lodging. And we’ll give you a figure in U.S. dollars for your trip.(Note: If you don’t see the calculator below, try turning off your ad blocker.)For a small subset of fans, the World Cup is relatively affordable. Locals who won lotteries for $60 tickets — which represented around two percent of the inventory for each match, and were mostly reserved for dedicated supporters of specific countries — could, in theory, attend for less than $100. But those tickets were so scarce and hard to come by that we chose to exclude them from the calculator.At this stage, Category 3 seats, which cost anywhere from $140 to $1,410 in the group stage, are the cheapest available — if they’re available at all. For many of the 104 matches, the resale market, where prices are set by ticket holders and fluctuate daily, is the last remaining route to tickets.At the other end of the price spectrum, a trip to the World Cup final from outside North America could cost well over $10,000. A Category 1 ticket alone cost $10,990 when FIFA released its latest batch last month. Flights from other continents to New York could cost around $2,000 roundtrip. Two nights at a hotel in Manhattan over the weekend of July 18-19 could be more than $1,000. (Rates on July 19, the night of the final, at Wyndham hotels within 25 miles of MetLife Stadium are, on average, about $440 — roughly twice as much as the rates on non-matchdays in June and July, according to data collected by The Athletic.)And if you wanted, you could spend even more on a front-row seat, which FIFA sold earlier this month for $32,970.In between the two extremes, there is a wide variety of potential price tags, which would increase for fans who would like to attend as a family or travel to see multiple matches. But they could also fall for those who get creative. Some supporters have told The Athletic they plan to stay with friends, share Airbnbs, or take a chance on cheap motels far from city centers and stadiums.The calculator above, therefore, provides only a rough estimate. But have a play and let us know in the comments below what a trip is likely to cost you…The most expensive World Cup tickets in historyWhen World Cup organizers FIFA first put tickets on sale last October, prices were already the highest in World Cup history. Then, over the months that followed, FIFA raised them using a “variable pricing” scheme — also known as dynamic pricing.The Athletic used screenshots and information captured and sent by fans to document prices for every match in every sales phase. We found that prices rose from October to November, then after the World Cup draw in December, and again on April 1. From October to April, there were price hikes in at least one category for 95 of the 104 matches; the average increase was 35 percent.The calculator uses those April prices, which have held steady through May. In every category, for every match, they are more than twice as expensive as equivalent tickets to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.The Athletic has charted World Cup ticket prices every step of the way. (Carl De Souza / AFP via Getty Images)For instance, FIFA’s Category 1 prices in the 2026 group stage, excluding openers, range from $450 to $990. In 2022, the same tickets cost $220. Category 1 tickets for the 2026 quarterfinals cost at least $1,360 — up from $425 at the last World Cup.In the past, tickets that cost around $1,000 were reserved for the World Cup final or for the best seats at the semifinals in 2022. Now, if you want a decent seat, it costs that much to watch the United States play Turkey in the group stage.Hotel price hikes on matchdaysStaying at a hotel on a gameday will cost you more than a typical night in that city. To analyze hotel price increases during the World Cup, The Athletic collected the rates listed at Wyndham hotels within 25 miles of stadiums, and found that on the nights of games, a one-night stay costs about 55 percent more than on other nights in June and July. The initial lodging estimate shown in the calculator is roughly based on the average cost of a one-night stay at one of these hotels on the night of the match you selected.Wyndham hotels — brands such as La Quinta Inn, Days Inn and Super 8 — tend to be more budget-friendly than some other options, so depending on your preferences, you might end up paying more.Fans get in the mood for the World Cup at the United States roster reveal in New York City on May 26. (Adam Hunger / Getty Images)The rate increases are most pronounced in Kansas City and Guadalajara, which only has four Wyndham options near the stadium. In those cities, the average rate on the night of every game is at least double the rates on other dates.For the more than two dozen Wyndham hotels within 25 miles of Arrowhead Stadium, the average rate is about $390 on the nights of the city’s hosted games, compared to $150 on other dates in June and July. The rates on Kansas City gamedays are among the highest across all summer dates in these 16 markets.What the calculator doesn’t includeIn addition to tickets, flights and hotels, fans will need a route to the stadium on gameday. Because there are countless options for gameday transport and countless variables that affect the cost, we chose to exclude it from the calculator. But in some cases — and especially in some locations — it will be expensive.To capitalize on the World Cup, transit agencies in Massachusetts and New Jersey have both spiked prices for stadium routes on matchdays. In other cities, such as Philadelphia and Seattle, standard fares will apply and public transit will carry tens of thousands of fans to games, making the cost negligible.Others will drive, either in a rental car or from their home. But parking will be limited due to security perimeters ringing stadiums. FIFA has negotiated with local entities for control of nearby lots, and is selling parking passes for between $100 and $300. (These passes “must be pre-purchased,” FIFA and its partner, JustPark, say. Spaces in stadium-adjacent lots won’t be available on gameday.)Rideshare services will also be options, but will likely be expensive. Prices on the Uber and Lyft apps typically increase at and around the 11 U.S. stadiums on NFL gamedays.The other main matchday expense will be food and beverages — which are notoriously expensive at pretty much every U.S. stadium except for Atlanta’s. During last summer’s Club World Cup, it was $8 for French fries and $14 for a Bud Light at MetLife Stadium. In Miami, it was $19 for chicken tenders or a cubano, $15 for a “super slice” of Little Caesars pepperoni pizza, $19 for brisket nachos, $10 for a soft pretzel, $12 for Häagen-Dazs ice cream and $30 for a lobster roll.Fans traveling from abroad will also incur miscellaneous daily expenses. And anyone who requires a visa to enter the United States had to pay $185 simply to apply.As a result of all these costs, the 2026 World Cup will be the “most expensive World Cup ever,” as Rafael Baqueiro, a Mexico supporter in Toronto who heads a multinational World Cup fan group, told The Athletic — and not just marginally. “By far,” he added, “in every sense.”