When Scotland secured World Cup qualification, the country lit up. Pubs rang with songs, flags appeared in windows, and supporters allowed themselves to imagine summer nights across North America. However, as the 2026 FIFA World Cup approaches, there is one unpleasant fact that is dragging that dream back to earth. The price of being there.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Scotland coach Steve Clarke addressed the mounting backlash over ticket prices in uncharacteristically blunt terms. “We can’t control the prices,” he said. “Even if you’re going on holiday to America you need to save up, and you need to save up, and you need to save up to get across the Atlantic and have your holiday there. So it’s always going to be an expensive World Cup.”

Scotland is supposed to play Haiti and Morocco in Boston and Brazil in Miami, but the cost of tickets between £134 and £524 has created an uproar. Clarke’s concern, however, goes beyond anger. “My biggest wish is that people don’t put themselves into too much debt trying to get there,” he said. “If you can afford to go, great. If you can’t, then understand that don’t put yourself and your family in debt.”

Clarke also spoke about the fans who follow Scotland everywhere, even to far-off destinations where only a few thousand turn up. He hopes those loyal supporters are the ones who get the chance to be there, believing they will find ways to show up.

While the original 2026 bid promised affordable group stage tickets, prices have surged. According to The Athletic, some group games are now listed at $700, while World Cup final tickets have climbed close to $8,700.

For many fans, the message is painful but clear. The World Cup may be bigger than ever, but for ordinary supporters, it is drifting further out of reach.

Global backlash grows as fans warn FIFA is pricing the World Cup out of reach

The backlash has also extended to major supporter groups. Football Supporters Europe very harshly criticized FIFA on its pricing, which they described as a “monumental betrayal” of the tradition of the World Cup. The group warned their fans who track their national team throughout the entire tournament through official allocations would pay no less than $6,900, almost five times more than what supporters spent at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Similar concerns surfaced in England, where supporters were told that attending every England match through to the final would cost just over $7,000. Meanwhile, tickets for the final at MetLife Stadium have surged to unprecedented levels, with prices reaching up to $8,860, as FIFA celebrates what it calls global demand. In New York, one of the host cities, criticism has taken on a political edge.

Back in October, New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani warned that FIFA’s approach is unlike anything seen in previous World Cups. “An approach that will price out so many New Yorkers from actually being able to be in the stands,” he said. “We are now, at face value, seeing tickets for more than $6,000,” he said. “It’s absurd.” Even recently, he pointed it out again.

“New York City is the most expensive city in the United States of America,” Mamdani stated. “People are so excited about the World Cup. But when you look at the ticket prices being charged for these games and the fact that FIFA is going to be using dynamic pricing, which means that when you enter into that website to purchase your ticket, by the time you actually get out of it, it might be a different price.”

Behind the anger is a greater question of priorities. This cycle is expected to bring in as much as $11 and $14 billion to FIFA, just shy of the previous tournaments, even though the organization has already accumulated billions of dollars in reserves as a non-profit entity.

While FIFA insists that high demand validates its pricing model, fan organizations complain that the soul of the World Cup is taken away by money.

The largest football event might soon be enjoyed by only those who can afford it, and not those who have always occupied the stands.