Are you looking forward to 2022’s World Cup (when, hopefully, Team USA will again be a participant!) and want to budget for it? Check out my analysis of how much it would cost to go to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“We’ve prepared the best we can. We’re ready for it. It’s not about talking. It’s about getting out there and showing by our actions.”

–Clint Dempsey

I’ve been a soccer fan all of my life. My wife and I went to the World Cup in 2010. We didn’t go in 2014; instead, I spent nearly every day at the local bar watching games. We don’t have cable, and I had to watch somewhere. Oh, the joys of being an entrepreneur…

I suspect that 2018 will see me in some bar somewhere watching the World Cup as well. Russia isn’t high on the travel bucket list, but for many fans, particularly devout American Outlaws, the 2018 World Cup in Russia will be on the bucket list.

If you’re one of those who wants to take the trip there to watch the 2018 World Cup, you might be wondering what it would take to get yourself over there for a couple of weeks.

There are two ways of accomplishing the trip. The first is to go with a tour package and let them handle everything for you. This will give you at least a baseline for comparison with a do it yourself option.

I’m going to assume a 13 night stay with a game in Moscow, then a game in St. Petersburg, and, finally, a game in Kazan and staying in 4 star accommodations. Since the schedules don’t come out until December, 2017, this may not be realistic, but it should at least give us enough information to come up with a reasonable budget. I tried to book the geographically most distant (aside from Katerinburg) travel to mimic the U.S.’s horrible travel schedule in Brazil during the 2014 World Cup. Since flights aren’t yet available that far out, I’m going to assume flying out of DFW on a Friday and back on a Thursday more than six months out with a total one-way travel time of less than 24 hours to get a reasonable estimate of pricing.

I’m also going to assume a 50% increase off of current published hotel prices, since there will be a tourist markup. We saw it in South Africa; I see no reason not to expect the same in Russia.

Ticket prices, as of the time of writing this article, have not been released. I will assume a $197.65 price (I’ll explain my pricing methodology below).

Given that, as of the time of me writing this article, we’re still four years out from the 2018 World Cup, I’m going to assume that prices will increase 10% per year over the next four years from whatever prices I find now. This will help account for spikes due to the event itself as well as potential currency fluctuations between the Russian ruble and the U.S. dollar. If you wind up saving too much, then you can always invest the difference!

First, let’s look at a group package. The American Outlaws had a package in 2014 that would have cost $5,400.

The package did include a flight to Brazil, but it did not include lunch or dinner. It did include:

Travel

Daily Breakfast

Hotel

Airport Transfers

Chartered Air between Host Cities

On-site & Brazilian Support Staff

Ground Match Transfers

Pre-Game Parties (woo hoo!)

Given that 2 meals a day are not included, I’ll assume that you’re eating one meal in an inexpensive restaurant and one meal in a mid-range restaurant.

I also assumed that there would be no charter flight to Moscow. They will probably have a charter flight, but better safe than sorry.

Therefore, going from DFW to Russia in a package should cost roughly $10,500. Given that there are 48 months until the big event, you’ll need to set aside about $219 per month between now and July 2018 to pay cash for a package World Cup adventure.

Number Current Cost per Total (After Inflation) Source Round trip flight from DFW – SVO 1 $882.00 $1,291.34 Source Travel package 1 $5,400.00 $7,906.14 Source Lunch in Moscow 2 14.54 $42.58 Source Dinner in Moscow 2 68.32 $200.05 Source Lunch in St. Petersburg 4 10.17 $59.56 Source Dinner in St. Petersburg 4 43.61 $255.40 Source Lunch in Kazan 4 11.63 $68.11 Source Dinner in Kazan 4 43.61 $255.40 Source Souvenir spending 1 $300.00 $439.23 Total $10,517.80 Per month to save $219.12

What if you did the trip without a package? Would it cost you more or less?

According to my calculations and the estimates I made, a do-it-yourself trip would cost about $9,322, meaning you’d need to save up $194 per month.

Number Current Cost per Total (After Inflation) Source Round trip flight from DFW – SVO – LED – KZN – DFW 1 $2,253.00 $3,298.62 Source World Cup tickets 3 $135.00 $592.96 Breakfast in Moscow 2 $14.54 $42.58 Source Lunch in Moscow 2 $14.54 $42.58 Source Dinner in Moscow 2 $68.32 $200.05 Source Hotel in Moscow 2 $135.00 $592.96 Source Breakfast in St. Petersburg 4 $10.17 $59.56 Source Lunch in St. Petersburg 4 $10.17 $59.56 Source Dinner in St. Petersburg 4 $43.61 $255.40 Source Hotel in St. Petersburg 4 $180.00 $1,581.23 Source Breakfast in Kazan 4 $11.63 $68.11 Source Lunch in Kazan 4 $11.63 $68.11 Source Dinner in Kazan 4 $43.61 $255.40 Source Hotel in Kazan 4 $101.00 $887.24 Source Taxis, airport transport 6 $100.00 $878.46 Souvenir spending 1 $300.00 $439.23 Total $9,322.04 Per month to save $194.21

Naturally, your results may vary, and it’s wise to budget an extra thousand dollars for either trip just in case you want to upgrade games or go out on the town or do sightseeing, but based on my travel experiences, these seem like reasonable per person expenses. If you travel with someone else and you’re in DIY mode, you could always split a room, reducing those costs (my estimate is approximately $750 per person).

Are you thinking about going to the World Cup in Russia? How much are you budgeting to spend?