Football fans are renowned for being some of the most die-hard and loyal in the world, travelling up and down the country to support their club. Following your national team, though, is a totally different level of commitment. The first hurdle is getting hold of some tickets for the match, but once that’s done, the really hard, and often expensive work begins. With the Qatar World Cup just around the corner, we at ThePuntersPage want to find out just how much supporting your national team will cost, from flights and hotels to food and drink. Brace yourselves!
Costs Involved in the Group Stages
MOST EXPENSIVE
Av. cost
£4,163.92
Av. cost
£3,979.76
Av. cost
£3,819.70
LEAST EXPENSIVE
Av. cost
£2,796.76
Av. cost
£2,803.50
Av. cost
£3,061.06
Brazil fans will have to pay the most to watch their team in Qatar. With A Seleção, Brazilians can boast having some of the most talented players in world football, like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Neymar, with the country producing spectacular football for decades. But the five-time winners of the Jules Rimet Trophy are top of the board when it comes to the cost of supporting them at the Qatar World Cup.
To watch their national team in the group games, Brazilian fans will be looking at an eye-watering cost of £4,164, which is well above the average cost of £3,388.
In fact, three of the top five most expensive countries to support in the group stages are South American, with Argentina (£3,980), Ecuador (£3,820) and Uruguay (£3,740). Mexico is the only country outside of South America in the top five, but it’ll still cost £3,755 to follow El Tri.
On the other end of the scale, it’s unsurprising that the least expensive country to support is the home nation, Qatar, with costs for the group stages coming in at £2,797.
The Tournament Favourites
Check out the data for your favourite team in our FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 sticker book below.
Brazil
Total Cost £:
£26,090
Currency:
Brazilian Real
Total Cost R$:
R$158,308
Brazil
France
Argentina
According to the bookmakers, Brazil are the favourites to go the distance in this winter’s tournament to lift a sixth World Cup. Success comes at a cost, however. If they are to make it to the final as predicted, supporting them all the way won’t come cheap, with fans looking at a total cost of £26,090!
The second-favourites and predicted opponents for Brazil in the final are France. Following Les Bleus from the group stages through to the final will cost a whopping £25,631. We know the cost of lifting a World Cup is priceless, but come on.
England fans beware - the bookies have The Three Lions priced at third-favourites to win the tournament, so it could be another few years of hurt before the men’s team lift a first trophy since the solitary World Cup win in 1966. On the plus side, if England progress as far as the quarter-finals , it’ll only cost £19,867 to watch them in Qatar – a snip compared to Brazil and France supporters.
Australian fans can rejoice knowing that their predicted outlay will come in at £8,337 – but considering they’re massive outsiders to get beyond the group stage, let alone to lift the World Cup, that’s hardly a surprise.
Home or Away? Cost Comparison
While we’ve established that the cost to watch Brazil in Qatar is expensive, at an average price of £4,513 per match, their supporters watching from home will be paying the third-least per match, at just £25 – that’s 180 times less expensive than heading to Qatar!
For the price of watching at home, only Tunisia and Cameroon are cheaper, at £16 and £12, respectively. This does mean that for Cameroonians, paying £3,240 to watch in Qatar is a staggering 264 times more expensive than following the tournament from their living rooms.
Compare this to Switzerland where it costs £101 to watch from home, and our calculations show that it would be 27 times more expensive to fly out to Qatar for Swiss fans, where it would cost £2,715 per match.
It is important to note, though, that in Tunisia and Cameroon, the cost of living is much lower than Switzerland, so naturally this will affect the overall expenses involved.
Who will pay the most to watch from home per match? That unlucky accolade falls with one-time winners, England, but fans won’t mind this one bit as the team look to reach their first final since 1966. After reaching the semi-finals in 2018 and reaching the final of Euro 2020, this England team are at their peak. Is this the year that football finally comes home?
Click on a World Cup 2022 country using our interactive map to see some World Cup trivia.
Additional Costs of Going to Qatar
Time to break down the cost of travelling to Qatar. Where does your money actually go? Well, once again, let’s look at the most expensive team to support: Brazil.
To fly out to watch Brazil’s third group game against Cameroon on 02 December at the Lusail Stadium, the best price we could find was a whopping £2,966 – on just the flight! For accommodation in Lusail around the time of the match, you’re looking at an Airbnb cost of £1,811 per night. This sounds like a lot of money for a few hours of sleep, but for Brazil’s opening game at the same stadium on 24 November, the average Airbnb cost rises to £2,353.
Strict alcohol measures will be in place at this year’s World Cup. Beer will be served before and after games, but outside the stadiums only. This will come at a cost though, and quite a large one. Fans will be paying around £10 per beer. Add to that the risk of a £693 fine if fans break any of the rules around the consumption of alcohol, then it could turn out to be a very expensive pint.
Food is another consideration that fans will have to take into account, with it expected to cost between £33 and £46 per person.
If you bear all of the above in mind and think about Brazilian fans who may be in Qatar for four weeks, it’s easy to see how costs can reach the heights we’ve discussed.
For that moment of glory, is the cost of being a World Cup fan worth it? We’ll leave that up to you to decide…
Costs in Qatar
Wait – There’s More!
Enjoyed this article? Take a look at our detailed World Cup betting guide and our list of the best football betting sites around.
For Qatar match predictions , as well as predictions for the Brazil-Switzerland match on the 28th of November, we recommend our scientifically backed KickForm site.