The 2026 World Cup Is Going To Be A Disaster - Here's Why

A Disaster Waiting To Happen - The Worrying Signs Around The 2026 World Cup

It's almost that time in the football calendar that we all look forward to, perhaps the greatest tournament in the world never mind just in football. That's right, the World Cup is nearly here.

I can already sense the beer gardens, lying on the sofa all day watching some of the most thrilling games of football I've ever seen between two nations I forgot were even in the tournament to begin with. I can't wait for the complete and utter stress for when England nearly get knocked out of the tournament in the early stages

We all had concerns when Russia 2018 or Qatar 2022 were announced and on moral grounds there are still issues surrounding those two tournaments; however, the football itself and all that surrounded and supported the tournaments were incredible.

2026 seemed likely to be a clean slate for the tournament and would see a host that, in theory, would be perfect. Football is already huge in Mexico and is one of the fastest-growing sports in the USA and Canada, so it would be hosted by nations that are known to love the sport.

The issue is so far way too many issues are being presented for the games in the USA that are making the tournament look set to be an absolute disaster. They may be a growing football-loving nation but politics and greed are destroying the fabric of the tournament.

This will be remembered as the World Cup where FIFA truly stopped caring about the fans. Nothing more than a vanity fuelled corporate cash grab.

— Henry Hill (@henry_hill94) December 11, 2025

Fans Are Being Priced Out Of The World Cup

As mentioned, greed is looking to be a key factor in why the 2026 World Cup may be a disaster; more and more details are being produced about ticketing, and it's nothing short of eye-watering.

An England fan worked out how much it would cost a family of 5 to attend the World Cup, based on cheap travel and cheap spending money. 🤦🏻‍♂️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤯 pic.twitter.com/cgCnagnDt7

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Footballtweet) December 14, 2025

Famously the World Cup is a tournament for togetherness and inclusivity, with fans from all over the world being able to attend and celebrate football and their nations. However, this principle is being absolutely destroyed ahead of 2026.

One of the main showings of greed is that for the first time in the tournament's history, fans are going to be charged to enter the fan zones and watch games. It cannot be overstated that this has genuinely never happened before; every other World Cup to have had fan zones allowed for free entry and free viewing of games.

For the first time at a World Cup, supporters will be charged to enter an official fan zone, an area typically provided for free for fans without match tickets to watch games on giant screens.

[Matt Lawton]

Americans really have to ruin everything 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/3JEXNsBMJP

— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) December 18, 2025

As if this alone wasn't bad enough, tickets to the games themselves are hitting unheard pricing levels; to use England fans as an example, the cheapest tickets to the likely least desired game vs Panama are currently priced at $220.

By comparison, in Qatar 2022, fans could get tickets to some games for as low as $11 in the group stages.

So essentially fans are being priced out of attending their games whilst simultaneously being prevented access to fan parks to watch them for cheap surrounded by other national fans.

The knock-on effect is that in all likelihood atmospheres are going to be nowhere near what we're used to for huge international tournaments, it's going to be masses of people who have the disposable income to simply say that they have watched a World Cup game instead of fans.

Everyone who hated the Qatar World Cup, where are you now? pic.twitter.com/dxlniJyLTY

— Total Football (@TotalFootbol) December 12, 2025

Some Nations' Fans Won't Be Allowed To Attend

Luckily a lot of fans won't even have to worry about the issues of being priced out of the tournament, not because they are simply so rich money doesn't matter for them but rather because they simply won't be allowed into the USA, full stop.

In the last week President Trump signed an executive order to prevent people from Senegal and the Ivory Coast from entering US soil on grounds of national security. These two nations have been added to the list, including Haiti and Iran, who also have travel bans from entering US soil.

That alone goes against the idea of football being a global game at its core if fans can be prevented from attending purely because of the passport they hold. It also shows yet another way that atmospheres will be dead for games, particularly those that are of nations whose fans cannot attend.

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Donald Trump signed an order on Tuesday banning people from Senegal and Ivory Coast from entering US soil.

Fans from Senegal and Ivory Coast are now at risk of not being able to travel for the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

Exceptions are planned for the players,… pic.twitter.com/Hw7y1k5g7J

— The Touchline | 𝐓 (@TouchlineX) December 17, 2025

There Is Going To Be A Half-Time Show In The World Cup Final

Ok, this one is not serious grounds for the tournament to be a total disaster; it's more just a personal gripe with what has been announced but that being said, the World Cup Final is going to have a halftime show.

Just try to imagine Qatar 2022 and the incredible display we saw between France and Argentina, heading into the last 45 minutes to decide a World Champion, the stakes, the drama, the tension, and you have to sit through a Drake show beforehand... A certain picture of Sean Dyche is springing to mind.

But in all seriousness there are so many areas of issue and controversy that are showing zero signs of letting up and with the world's greatest tournament on the horizon, we're looking at a tournament that diverts from the core principles of both football and the World Cup itself.

If things aren't fixed or amended soon, we may well face one of the worst-ever iterations of the World Cup in history and one of the first true signs of football as we know it dying to politics and greed.