In a recent press interaction, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola expressed concern over the escalating costs of attending the 2026 FIFA World Cup, highlighting how the tournament has shifted from an accessible global celebration to an expensive affair.<\/p>\n
\u201cA long, long time ago, the World Cup was a celebration for the joy of football,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cEveryone around the world would travel to watch their country. But now we are in the modern times, it\u2019s become so expensive.\u201d He added that fans once traveled across continents affordably to support their teams, contrasting this with today\u2019s realities.\u00a0\u201cFootball is for the fans!\u201d While acknowledging the need for sponsors to ensure sustainability, he underlined that supporters remain the key element of the game.<\/p>\n
His comments come amid widespread backlash against 2026 World Cup pricing in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. FIFA has faced heavy criticism for final tickets reaching up to $8,860\u2013$10,990 in premium tiers far exceeding Qatar 2022 levels along with group-stage prices that have risen significantly from initial bids.<\/p>\n
As one of football\u2019s most respected voices, his intervention adds weight to calls for more accessible pricing ahead of the expanded 48-team event.<\/p>\n
His message resonates as the tournament approaches, reminding organizers that the beautiful game\u2019s essence lies with its passionate fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a recent press interaction, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola expressed concern over the escalating costs of attending the 2026\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":50160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50159"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50161,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50159\/revisions\/50161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}