From Stafford Rangers to the World Cup: Superfan saves £10,348 to follow England

An England superfan from Stafford has revealed how he saved £10,348.06 on tickets to fly out to watch the World Cup.

Alex Wickett, 25, joined the England Supporters Travel Club in 2022 and has been building up points going to all the friendlies and qualifiers both at home and away to make tickets more affordable.

As a result, he was able to buy tickets directly through the FA and managed to save up £2,000 to put towards the trip from his job as a project coordinator.

Dipping into savings to attend qualifiers, his plan was to “save himself” from reselling platforms and bag some cheaper tickets.

He has picked up conditional tickets through the club to England’s round of 16, quarter and semi-finals for a total of £1,433.

If he was to buy on the FIFA ticketing platform for all three games without his member, the total currently would come to an eye watering £11,787.50.

If England do not make it through, Alex still plans to make the trip, and will receive a refund for the tickets he has purchased – though he admits he is “the most confident” he has even been England can go all the way.

Alex, from Stafford and support Stafford Rangers FC, flying the flag proudly at US games, says: “It’s extortionate and it hurts but it’s not as bad as I was looking at to buy on resale.

“Even as a kid growing up I never thought we had a manager in place to get it over the line.

“Thomas Tuchel has been building a team of the best 26 players and the club, atmosphere and camaraderie between those 26 players has taken things to another level.

“Being up close and personal at a tournament for my first ever World Cup will be super special and to be around people of different nationalities.

“My thought was people going out for the group stages will make accommodation more expensive.

“I decided to hold off until the Mexico City game.

“I mapped out our group and the round of 16 group is in Mexico – it's cheaper and will allow me to stay longer."

Alex joined the England Supporters Travel Club in 2022 when it had just 8,500 members, but he says it has now soared to over 33,000.

He is set to fly out to Atlanta on July 3, before returning on July 17.

“I’m staying in Mexico City and paying £15 per night in a hostel to keep it as cheap as possible,” he says.

“Then I’ll quickly move on to Cancun to another £15 per night hostel and stay by the beach and see one of the wonders of the world Chichén Itzá.

“Hopefully I’ll be flying out to Miami for the quarter final.

“In Miami I’m staying in an apartment there.

“It’s a little bit more expensive on the American leg so it’s more in terms of accommodation and I’m looking at around $500.

“I’m checking out a baseball game in Miami."

Alex has grown up as a non-league football supporter for club Stafford Rangers, and volunteers for the team too.

He has visited 252 football grounds and 36 countries over the last four years.

“I left Stafford for university in Leeds and got a feel for going to football grounds around Yorkshire,” he says.

“Gradually it became more of a groundhopping journey.

“Gradually over the last couple of years I’ve been to as many countries as I can in Europe and just enjoyed the experience of football in less appreciated countries and showed through my social channels that football is underappreciated in some countries like Sweden, Norway and Switzerland.

“If I was to consider travel, accommodation, match tickets, pin badges, I would expect my hobby has seen me spend well in excess of £30,000.

“My dream in life is to go to every country in the world to watch football in every country and show people football means so much to so many, and is a much bigger game than we all think.

“Football isn’t about billionaires, hydration breaks, advertisers, it’s about the every day fan, who works hard to follow their club home and away out of pride for their community and love for their team."

Alex’s World Cup trip cost breakdown

Flights

July 3 – Heathrow to Atlanta return: £757

July 4 – Atlanta to Mexico City: £288.65 ($380)

July 7 – Mexico City to Cancun: £61.10

July 10 – Cancun to Miami: £130.70

July 13– Miami to Atlanta: £89.94 ($118.40)

Total: £1,327.39

Accommodation:

July 4 and 5 – Mexico City - two nights in a hotel with a friend: £15 per night, £30

July 6 - Mexico City – Hostel Mexico: £11.67 ($15.36)

July 7-10 – Cancun – Nomads Hostel: £44.25 ($58.25)

July 10-13 – Miami: £413.12 ($543.86)

July 13-17 – Atlanta: £502.71 ($661.81)

Total: £1,001.75

Tickets:

Round of 16: £224.08 ($295)

Quarter final: £516.53 ($680)

Semi final: £698.83 ($920)

Total: £1,439.44

Trip total: £3,768.58