An exclusive Mirror poll has shown that two-thirds of Brits believe next year’s World Cup is simply too expensive for travelling fans – and there is widespread support for a joint bid from British countries to host the tournament
Football fans have said ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup matches are just too high. Our new poll interviewed almost 2,000 people across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland specifically about the controversial issue. Two thirds of people said simply that entrance to the games in next year’s tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada is too expensive. The poll echoes the theme of recent stories ran by the Mirror exposing the greed of FIFA on inflated ticket prices.
The same poll also revealed widespread support for a joint bid from British countries to host a World Cup at some stage in the future. England have notoriously failed to secure the tournament on several occasions since hosting it back in 1966. A spokesman for Deltapoll said: “Two thirds of respondents (66%) said they believed the cost of tickets for the World Cup are too high, but nearly a quarter (23%) don’t know. A very similar proportion (67%) would support a joint World Cup bid from England, Scotland and Wales in the future. Just over one in ten (11%) oppose the idea.”
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Deltapoll interviewed 1,997 British adults online between 16th December to 18th December 2025. The data was weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole. England’s ‘super fans’ Neal Weekes and Fil Sollof have been furious at the prices and said they weren’t surprised by the results of our poll. Weekes, 60, an auctioneer from Greenwich, south East London, said: “We are used to being ripped-off but this is ridiculous. This is the mother of all rip-offs.”
Sollof, 60, a property services business owner, from Loughton, Essex, said: “FIFA has finally taken football from the working class man and woman. It’s disgusting. This has got to stop. When the prices were revealed earlier this month Ronan Evain, Director of Football Supporters Europe told the Mirror: “This is such a shock. We are all stunned by this.
“A lot of fans won’t be able to afford it. For European fans, this is several months of salary – let alone the rest of the world. FIFA doesn’t need the money. They have enormous reserves. This is such a monumental like diversion from the history of football.
“FIFA has the power to stop and reconsider. We have the feeling that this is a completely rushed decision It’s going to have a very negative impact on the tournament. “ The tournament takes place in June and July next summer and features an increased 48 countries for the very first time. Bookies have Spain as favourites with England, France and Brazil as second favourites.
