The 2026 FIFA World Cup is here, but feels out of touch with reality and out of reach for fans

By Noah Zimmerman

noah@queensledger.com

The 2026 FIFA World Cup begins this week as all three host nations open group play. For most, this is the most highly anticipated event in sports and a chance to see the game’s biggest stars in our own backyard. For many others, the excitement has been muted with the tournament out of reach and drowning in controversy.

This was meant to be one of the best tournaments yet, bringing together the US, Canada, and Mexico for a joint celebration of the world’s game. However, the cup’s primary host has been hostile to outsiders out of touch with the wants and needs of fans, with FIFA once again putting their pocketbooks ahead of the sanctity of the event.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani was vocal about the lack of ticket allocations for New York residents with the World Cup Final scheduled for MetLife Stadium on July 19. With the apex of world soccer coming to the Tri-State Area, fans were buzzing and making plans to attend. Most of those plans came to a screeching halt with FIFA introducing variable pricing amid the most expensive World Cup tickets in the game’s history.

It’s part of a greater trend over the past decades with games and merchandise getting more expensive and broadcasts locked behind countless paywalls. The world’s game feels less and less accessible to the world with every passing year.

To combat the inaccessibility, Mamdani secured 1,000 non-transferrable tickets to various group stage and knockout round matches, auctioned off at $50 apiece to local residents.

“A World Cup is coming to our backyard, and we want to ensure working-class New Yorkers have the opportunity to be part of it,” said the Mayor. “Today, 1,000 New Yorkers are going to get into those stands for fifty dollars and a free bus ride. I’m proud that New York City is leading the way.”

Of course, the ticket prices were just the tip of the iceberg. FIFA also heavily restricted tailgating at stadiums (why host a global sporting event while limiting our biggest sports traditions?) and banned resealable water bottles from stadiums before reversing the decision after backlash.

However, the hardest part to ignore is the treatment towards traveling players, fans, and even referees. While traveling stars were serenaded by mariachi music and clamoring fans upon arrival in Mexico, players were seen being meticulously searched after touching down in the US.

Players for the Iranian national team were held and questioned for hours in airports, eventually being instructed to enter and leave the nation during every matchday. On Tuesday, the announcement was made that FIFA was revoking all tickets allocated to the Iranian soccer federation, less than a week before their opening match against New Zealand. While there have been constant controversies surrounding relationships between nations, 2026 is first time in the tournament’s history that a host nation has actively waged war against a participant. As expected, that has affected the treatment of the traveling Iranian delegation.

The weekend before the opening match, news also broke that Somalian referee Omar Artan had been denied entry to the country, ending his four-year dream to participate in the tournament. Artan had recently been named the best referee in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and was one of just seven African refs invited to the 2026 World Cup. He would have been the first Somali to oversee a game on the world’s biggest stage.

“I’m just simply a referee who’s trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup,” Artan told the NY Times after being flown to Istanbul en route to his nation’s capitol, Mogadishu. “I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa. I think that they have a problem with my country.”

The World Cup is meant to celebrate the world and its diverse communities, to highlight the game’s best players and help fans from across the globe explore and enjoy new places. To mar a worldwide event with this treatment towards guests and financial barriers to fans is beyond disappointing.

Despite the chaos, it’s not all doom and gloom. Watch parties will be aplenty across the city’s many restaurants, bars, parks, and squares including a free World Cup Final party in Central Park on July 19. The streets of the city will be alive and New York’s countless international communities will be in full celebration.

When the tournament kicks off this week, remember who this game is for. Cheer with your local communities, enjoy authentic worldwide cuisine, talk to visiting fans, kick a ball around in the park, and root for your favorite teams. You don’t need to shell out exorbitant fees for nosebleed seats just to enjoy the world’s game.