How welcome are foreign football fans in the United States for the 2026 World Cup?

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 7 Oct 2025 05:48 CDT
• 4 min read

News

There is increasing concern that foreign football fans won't be 'welcomed' with open arms in the United States for the 2026 World Cup.

Millions of soccer/football supporters are expected to descend on host cities in the United States, Mexico and Canada next summer. What is usually a tournament with a jovial atmosphere - with some notable exceptions - the 2026 World Cup is currently being overshadowed by a number of negative issues that have already started to impact those looking to travel.

Visa Delays

President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration is in the news every single day and stricter border controls will have an effect on travelling fans.

When the 2026 host nations were confirmed, Trump confirmed that "all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination".

That is the case...for some.

Fans from the United Kingdom and the EU will be able to travel without a Visa due to the Visa Waiver programme. However, that initiative hasn't extended to fans from Asia, Africa and South America, all of whom will need to apply for an official Visa to travel to the tournament.

Unfortunately, there is no department specifically designated for World Cup travellers so those applying for a Visa must do it along with every single other person looking to travel to the United States over the next year.

Applications can take as long as a year to be confirmed or rejected and they usually require a face-to-face interview held at an American embassy.

Qatar and Russia implemented a Visa fast-track programme for the last two World Cups but the USA decided against that.

Ticket Pricing

Fans planning to attend matches at the 2026 World Cup have been left 'astonished' by the exorbitant prices being charged.

FIFA officially began sales for the upcoming tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada on Wednesday by informing the select few who had been chosen in its 'first ticket lottery' that they could proceed with purchasing entry to games.

However, the lucky ones who managed to gain access soon realised that the $60 tickets FIFA had been promoting were few and far between. Instead, most prices were in the hundreds and even thousands.

Split into four pricing categories depending on the location of the seat, the cost for group stage games ranged from $60 to $620. Ticket prices for the final at MetLife Stadium reached as high as $6,730, with even Category 4 spots going for as much as $2,030, according to The Athletic.

Since then, FIFA has opened an official secondary market in the US and Canada, and prices have skyrocketed even further due to the governing body charging a 15 per cent commission and not implementing a cap.

Tickets have also hit third-party sellers. At the time of writing, upscale final seats at MetLife Stadium are being listed for as much as $537,752 on Stubhub. The cheapest ticket currently costs $6,886.

Political unrest as violence spreads

The United States is undoubtedly involved in a political storm at the moment due to a number of factors.

Currently, the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers throughout the country has led to mass protests and thousands upon thousands of arrests, with violence often breaking out at these demonstrations.

Trump has deployed National Guard troops in Democrat-led cities, including Los Angeles, which will host eight matches.

The president previously threatened to take World Cup matches away from cities that he deemed to be "unsafe".

"There is no question the divisions in the United States are considerable," says Daniel Byman, director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"On different issues, depending on the day, the president or some of his key people are trying to push a more polarised agenda. There is a lot of anger.

"With the Trump administration, there are lot of 'we don't know' answers in terms of security, because they don't yet have much of a track record for big events.

"There has been a pretty steady dismantling of a lot of the government agencies - cuts at the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. With that comes not only loss of people, but loss of institutional knowledge.

"There are lots of individuals who can be disruptive and dangerous. And the United States, of course, has ready access to firearms in a way that most countries do not."

In 2024, there were 500 mass shootings in the United States. In 2025, there have been 341, which is another major cause for concern for travelling fans.