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The most expensive nation to watch at the 2026 World Cup revealed - and it's not the USA
Updated: 3 Jun 2026 04:16 CDT |
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With the 2026 World Cup set to commence in just over a week, anticipation is building among supporters who'll take in the tournament in person in North America or sitting at home.
The 48-team competition takes place across the United States, Canada and Mexico in what is the biggest edition of the World Cup in history.
Unfortunately, a lot of pre-tournament headlines have been dominated by off-the-pitch issues like the exorbitant match ticket prices that FIFA are charging. On average, match tickets are three times more expensive than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and prices from the quarter-final stage onwards are, quite frankly, ludicrous.
On one reselling platform, it was discovered that a user posted a ticket for the World Cup final with a price of just over $2 million.
FIFA implemented dynamic pricing which means that increased demand led to an increase in prices. Plenty of people purchased tickets initially but the prices on reselling platforms are so high that matches are struggling to sell out.
Most expensive teams to see at the World Cup
| Nation | Average Ticket Cost |
|---|---|
| 1. Mexico | $1,848 |
| 2. Portugal | $1,391 |
| 3. Colombia | $1,298 |
| 4. Brazil | $1,250 |
| 5. Scotland | $958 |
| 6. Argentina | $953 |
| 7. South Africa | $934 |
| 8. South Korea | $921 |
| 9. Spain | $884 |
| 10. USA | $857 |
In fact, at one stage, the USMNT's opening match against Paraguay was the third-most expensive ticket of the entire tournament and it was previously being outsold by New Zealand versus Iran for the same venue.
However, fans of the United States are not the ones being charged the most to watch their team this tournament.
That 'honour' belongs to co-hosts Mexico, who are officially the most expensive team to watch at the 2026 World Cup.
According to information from ticketdata, as reported by Front Office Sports, tickets to see Mexico matches are ($1,848) on average across the three group stage matches and that will only increase if the co-hosts make it out of the group.
The second-most expensive team to watch is Portugal ($1,391), though that may be due to the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo will play in his final World Cup.
Interestingly, USA tickets are not in the top five most expensive as they are 10th on the list, with tickets costing $857 on average.
Demand for Scotland games has certainly driven up the prices for their games, too, as the Scots have reached their first World Cup since 1998. The Tartan Army will travel to North America en masse, and that's reflected in the average price of $958 as they face Morocco, Haiti and Brazil in the group stage.
The rest of the top 10 is made up of Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, South Korea and Spain.
France and England, two of the favourites to win the tournament, are not in the top 10 most expensive teams to watch this summer.
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