The 2026 FIFA World Cup, the largest to date, is testing the limits of fans, players, and host cities, raising concerns about logistics, costs, and security.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to challenge the adage that bigger is better. This year's tournament is unprecedented in scale, featuring the most host countries, the longest distances between venues, the largest number of teams, players, and matches, along with significantly high ticket prices.
Taking place across three nations—Canada, Mexico, and the United States—this World Cup will include 48 teams, an increase from the traditional 32, competing in 16 cities that are thousands of miles apart and span four time zones.
Experts suggest that FIFA's expansion of the tournament is a strategy to maintain soccer's prominence in the face of increasing competition from other sports. Notably, this trend may mean that in the future, only the wealthiest or largest nations will be able to host the tournament independently.
The lofty costs associated with attending this year's World Cup have garnered international attention. FIFA has faced criticism for pricing ordinary fans out of the experience, particularly with high ticket prices that leave only the least desirable seats accessible to the average spectator.
Data from the industry indicates that hotel prices in the host cities across Canada, the US, and Mexico are also on the rise. Christos Anagnostopoulos, an assistant professor in sports management at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, reported that the average cost for attendance in US host cities is exceeding $5,000 per person, not including flights between venues.
Visitors to the US are projected to spend around $5,400, significantly higher than the $720 to $2,500 that attendees spent during the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
Transportation logistics for this year's tournament differ greatly from those of previous single-city tournaments held in Qatar and Russia, which provided free public transport and additional trains for attendees. This year, due to the vast distances involved, flights are the primary means of travel for fans and teams, prompting airlines to expand their offerings to accommodate World Cup travelers.
Anagnostopoulos noted that teams and fans now have to account for flight costs rather than relying on public transit, raising concerns about the environmental and financial implications of such travel. He added that the necessity of booking flights may also be contributing to lower hotel demand, as US hotels are reportedly experiencing bookings that fall short of expectations.
The scale of the tournament also necessitates a significant investment in security measures, which includes addressing threats that may not have been a concern for previous World Cup hosts. The US federal government has allocated $625 million in grants to assist host cities with security preparations. Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security has made more than $200 million available for states to acquire anti-drone technology, in response to the increasing availability of such technology to hostile actors.
In Canada, federal authorities have provided approximately $104 million in grants to the host cities of Vancouver and Toronto. This brings the total public funding in Canada and the US to nearly $1 billion, which is likely only a fraction of the actual costs associated with securing the tournament.
The extensive size of the World Cup, coupled with its cross-border nature, has increased the overall security costs. Leo Levit, chair of Onvif, an organization focused on standardizing physical security products, stated that the 2022 tournament in Qatar benefited from a compact geography, with venues in a unified environment. In contrast, the 2026 tournament will involve numerous cities, jurisdictions, and agencies across the three host nations.
Levit emphasized that the challenge lies not only in the number of security systems involved but also in ensuring those systems can effectively share information.
The statistics surrounding the tournament illustrate a scenario that is straining under its own ambitions. It remains uncertain whether the substantial investments made will translate into ticket sales and advertising revenue. FIFA's pursuit of growth, despite these challenges, raises questions about its motivations.
Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economy at the international SKEMA Business School, posited that FIFA president Gianni Infantino's efforts are aimed at safeguarding football's relevance and market share against rival sports like the NBA, NFL, and the increasingly popular Formula One, particularly in North America.
By increasing the number of teams participating, FIFA not only requires more space for players and fans but also aims to boost viewership and ticket sales. This year, FIFA anticipates 6 billion engagements across various media platforms, an increase from the 5 billion recorded in the last tournament. Additionally, over 5 million spectators are expected to attend in person, compared to the 3.4 million in Qatar.
However, the drive to maintain soccer's global dominance comes with a significant trade-off: it appears that only a select few economies will be capable of hosting the tournament independently. Anagnostopoulos remarked that the World Cup has become too large for most nations to manage on their own, noting that even traditional football powerhouses like France, Germany, Russia, or England may struggle to host alone in the future.
He explained that hosting the tournament may require either immense wealth—such as that found in China or Saudi Arabia—and the willingness to develop a host nation from the ground up, or necessitate sharing responsibilities across borders. The era of a single traditional football nation hosting the World Cup appears to be coming to an end.
