Parking shock: 2026 World Cup fans may pay more to park than to watch the game

Dubai: World Cup ticket holders should brace for an unexpected expense at next year’s tournament: parking. 

Prices on FIFA’s official website have soared as high as $175 per car, stunning fans across the United States، a country where driving to major events is the norm and public transit options are limited.

The figures, first reported by The Athletic, have sparked widespread disbelief among American sports fans. The U.S. is one of three World Cup hosts, alongside Canada and Mexico.

According to FIFA’s online listings, a general parking pass for the July 14 semifinal in Dallas costs $175, while parking for group-stage matches is priced at $75. Parking at the July 11 quarterfinal in Kansas City will cost $125, and again $75for group-stage fixtures.

The irony is striking: in the first phase of ticket sales, which used flexible, dynamic pricing, group-stage seats started at just $60, meaning fans could end up paying more to park their car than to enter the stadium.

As of this week, only a handful of the tournament’s 16 host venues across the US, Canada, and Mexico have released parking passes online. Major host cities, including Mexico City, which will open the tournament, and New York-New Jersey, which will host the final, have not yet made any parking available.

Many US host cities lack the public-transport infrastructure common in Europe and other footballing regions. All 11 American stadiums set to host matches are NFL venues surrounded by vast parking lots, yet during the World Cup, much of that space will fall inside security perimeters or be repurposed for hospitality zones, making parking more scarce and more valuable.

FIFA appears poised to capitalize on that scarcity. Its official parking website, powered by the technology firm JustPark, indicates that paid parking will eventually be sold for most or all tournament venues.

Early pricing suggests a tiered structure: $75 for group-stage and round-of-32 matches, $100–$145 for the knockout rounds, and $175 for semifinals and the third-place game. In Philadelphia, group-stage parking already appears at $115.

The sticker shock comes during record demand for tickets. FIFA received more than 1.5 million ticket applicationswithin 24 hours of launching its presale draw in September.

With 48 teams, 104 matches, and millions of fans expected to travel between cities, transportation was always likely to be one of the tournament’s biggest hurdles. Now, with parking prices rivaling premium event experiences, fans are left wondering: At the 2026 World Cup, how expensive will it be just to show up?