Liverpool dad spends £22,000 taking sons to World Cup but England tickets price him out

Ben Laing has spent roughly £22,000 taking his two young sons to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, but the 50-year-old Liverpool fan will not be watching England play a single minute after finding ticket prices for the Three Lions’ matches simply unaffordable.

Laing, a scaffold product manager from Croxteth who now lives in Dublin, pulled his 12-year-old son Alfie out of school early to catch a flight to Dallas, where the family’s tournament begins. His younger son James is also on the trip, which covers five matches across four cities.

“It’s probably cost £22,000 or so — but it will be a trip of a lifetime for the boys,” Laing said. “That figure includes the cost of match tickets, hotels and flights.”

The itinerary takes in Netherlands v Japan in Dallas, Algeria v Argentina in Kansas City, and South Africa v Czech Republic in Atlanta, before the family travels to Toronto — where Laing’s wife Denise will fly in to join them — for Panama v Croatia and Senegal v Iraq.

Laing said he explored England tickets but quickly ruled them out. “We just couldn’t afford the England tickets but we’ve got five other World Cup games,” he said. He added that the family plan to visit England’s training camp and hopes public sessions will be available for fans.

Despite missing out on the Three Lions, the trip has already delivered moments beyond football. “The boys have already learnt about the shooting of JFK and seen a statue of civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks here in Dallas,” Laing said. “As we were at the Rosa Parks statue, the Japanese team bus went by — how special is that?”

Alfie, whose favourite England player is Morgan Rogers, said his schoolmates were envious when he told them he was going. James, a Jude Bellingham fan, added: “We’re so lucky to be going to five games. I’m very excited.”

The family were on the Kop when Liverpool lifted the Premier League trophy in 2025. England open their tournament in Dallas on Wednesday against Croatia, their first group game before fixtures in Boston and New York. More than 20,000 England supporters are expected at the opener, many of them expatriates based in the Dallas area or elsewhere in the United States.