Tickets for the World Cup were up to seven times as expensive as organizers first said, and compared to previous tournaments.

Analysis of ticket prices, economic data, transit fares, and other travel costs created five charts that show how expensive it is to attend the World Cup.

It is the first time the US has hosted the world's biggest sporting event since 1994 - and the five-week tournament is already halfway through.

For this year's ticket prices, those sold in April were examined, which was the first general-admission open sale, called the Last-Minute Sales Phase.

Some lucky fans could buy tickets earlier through three lottery draws. From December, they were also available through a participating members' association, or PMA - the governing body for soccer in each of the countries and territories that qualified for the tournament.

The eligibility criteria were set by the PMAs. This varied, but you typically had to be a loyal supporter who already attended several games. The prices were set by FIFA.

World Cup tickets are sold in four categories based on the seat's location in the stadium.

For this year's final, a Category 1 ticket cost $10,990 in the April open sale.

During the previous seven World Cups, the same ticket cost between $988 and $1,783 when adjusted for inflation, according to contemporary news reports and FIFA press releases.

FIFA allocated 1,000 tickets - up to about 2% of each stadium's capacity - for each of the 104 games at $60. These tickets were distributed by PMAs and earmarked for the most committed fans.

Ticket prices up sevenfold

One particular bugbear for fans is the huge price gap since the US, Canada, and Mexico outlined their United 2026 bid to host the World Cup.

Their official proposal to FIFA, called the bid book, said the cheapest tickets would be $21, and the most expensive, excluding suites, would be a Category 1 ticket for the final at $1,550.

These figures were compared to those in April's open sale, and to tickets sold by PMAs through a more complicated process that typically rewarded loyalty.

For example, longtime Scotland fans needed to have attended five away games or 10 home games to have a realistic chance in the Scottish Football Association's ballot.

Even the committed fans who got a rare $60 ticket were paying nearly three times the amount the bid book first suggested.

While they could be lucky enough to get $60 tickets for the final, instead of the proposed $128 baseline, every other ticket was more expensive.

For tickets to the final sold through PMAs, Category 3 rose from a proposed $695 to around $4,000, and Category 1 rose from $1,550 to $8,680.

By the time those tickets were available in April's open sale, they had risen by thousands more.

The group stage

The World Cup began with the group stage. Here, each team played three games in a round-robin mini-league format.

Tickets for this round were the cheapest, although prices have fluctuated over the years.

In the April open sale, the cheapest available for 2026 was $140, in Category 3.

When adjusted for inflation, that is almost double the price of the same category of ticket for the 2022 World Cup, but roughly the same price as for the 2018 edition.

On the other hand, tickets for the best seats have risen sharply. In the April sales phase, Category 1 started at $450, up 84% from the last World Cup.

The teams that place first and second in each of the 12 groups, plus eight third-place teams, continue to the Round of 32.

From here, it is win or go home. Ticket prices continue to rise at each round as the stakes increase.

Global inequality

This year's expanded format has helped four lower-ranked teams qualify for their first World Cup: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan. Plus, Haiti and DR Congo qualified for the first time since 1974.

However, tickets were unaffordable for most citizens of some countries.

When the last-minute sales phase was analyzed in late April, the cheapest ticket to see Haiti cost nearly $2,300. That is nearly 90% of the country's GDP per capita.

People from countries renowned for their soccer pedigree may also struggle to afford a ticket.

For Brazil, which has qualified for every World Cup and won a record five, the cheapest ticket was $770. That is about one month's average earnings based on Brazil's GDP per capita of $10,685.

At the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest ticket to see Switzerland was $380 - a little more than one day's earnings based on the country's GDP per capita of roughly $115,000.

Transit fares vary widely

Even for fans who did manage to buy a ticket, there is a lottery for further costs depending on where their team is playing. This can affect all sorts of things, like food, local transit, flights, and hotels.

Since there are more teams in this year's World Cup, there are more host cities, too. There are two cities in Canada, three in Mexico, and 11 in the US.

While most cities' local transit prices are the same as usual, a few have hiked fares for the tournament.

The most expensive public transit is in South Florida, where Brightline was charging up to $151 on World Cup game days for a return trip between Miami and Aventura, when pricing was reviewed before the tournament. On days when games are not scheduled at Hard Rock Stadium, where Aventura is the nearest station, the price was about $24.

New Jersey Transit is charging $98 for a round-trip rail ticket between Manhattan's Penn Station and New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, which is hosting eight games, including the final. A ticket usually costs $12.90.

Fans in Boston need to pay $80 for a round-trip train ticket between downtown and the Gillette Stadium. It usually costs $20 for a round trip on NFL gamedays, or $8.75 on a normal day.

Some Scotland fans instead based themselves in Providence, Rhode Island, and hired school buses to travel to the stadium.

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the city's host committee partnered with Airbnb to offer fans free Metro rides after games. It usually costs $2.90 each way.

In a statement, FIFA said it is focused on ensuring fair access to our game for existing and prospective fans.

It pointed to the $60 tickets it offered, and said its variable-pricing approach for tickets aligns with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors.

FIFA is a nonprofit organization, and reinvests revenue to support the development of men's, women's, and youth football across its 211 member associations.