South Africa played Korea in the middle of the night today.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup now under way across the United States, Canada and Mexico, fans are making increasingly expensive decisions about which matches to attend, where to stay and which teams are worth following.
New analysis by FreeBets suggests those choices can have a significant impact on the overall cost and value of experiencing the tournament. "Live World Cup action doesn't always come cheap. Prices this summer have surged up to 300% above normal in some host cities, and dynamic pricing has turned ticket-buying into a contact sport of its own," it says.
The study ranked 20 of the 48 qualified nations using a combination of FIFA rankings, World Cup success, recent international performance, ticket prices, hotel costs, fan engagement and a value index measuring FIFA ranking points against average ticket prices.
France emerged as the top-ranked nation overall, ahead of defending champions Argentina and five-time winners Brazil.
