There will be 48 teams at the 2026 World Cup, and travel distances will vary depending on group location and knockout pathways.
While Fifa has regionalised some group-stage fixtures to limit coast-to-coast journeys, deep runs into the knockout rounds are likely to generate travel distances well beyond 12,000 miles for some fanbases.
The biggest group-stage travel burden will fall on the Uefa play-off qualifier in Group B, which could be Wales or Northern Ireland. Fans travelling to all three group games – in Toronto, Inglewood and Seattle – face clocking up more than 3,140 miles.
When return flights from the competing country are included, South Africa fans face the largest travel burden – both for the group stage and an admittedly unlikely run to the final:
Group stage – at least 21,090 miles
Win group, reach final – at least 22,764 miles
Runner-up route, reach final – at least 26,834 miles
The associated emissions for those flights are 4.7 tonnes CO2e per fan for the group stage, rising to as much as 5.9 tonnes CO2e per fan in the group-runner-up-to-final scenario.
The average South African’s expected CO2 emission for a whole year is 5.8 tonnes CO2e, according to the International Energy Agency.
The seeded team with the greatest projected travel burden for fans is Germany:
Win group, reach final – at least 17,935 miles (3.2 tonnes CO2e)
Runner-up route, reach final – at least 19,770 miles (3.5 tonnes CO2e)
At the other end of the scale, France’s group travel – excluding international flights – is estimated at just 370 miles, and train travel is possible between two of their host cities.
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