Scotland’s ‘Tartan Army’ Shells Out for Long-Awaited World Cup Return

*Greg Ryan and David Hellier for Bloomberg News*

Football supporters are a resilient breed and none more so than Scotland fans who have been deprived of a men’s World Cup appearance since 1998.

That pent-up passion is pushing the so-called Tartan Army, Scotland’s kilt-clad hardcore supporters, to outspend larger nations with their own zealous fan bases for the upcoming FIFA 2026 World Cup games in North America. The cheapest tickets for Scotland’s three games in Boston and Miami are going for an average of nearly $1,000 on the resale market, according to TicketData.

That’s one of the top 10 priciest tickets among the World Cup’s 48 teams, just shy of Lionel Messi’s Argentina and ahead of better-known teams and more populous nations in the US and England, according to data through Monday. Scotland has a population of about 5.5 million, compared with nearly 60 million in England and more than 340 million in the US. Each team will play a minimum of three matches in a league format, before the tournament reverts to a knockout basis.

Attending the World Cup games in the US is a challenge for even the most committed fan, between sky-high costs for tickets, travel and accommodation and the American boondoggle of public transportation. Hotel bookings have lagged expectations in some key cities, fueling concerns about poor turnout, particularly among international fans. Argentina’s state-owned airline recently canceled special flights for the World Cup from three provincial cities to Miami amid rising fuel costs stemming from the war in Iran and lower-than-expected demand.

The Tartan Army, determined not to miss a long-awaited opportunity to see their team on the World Cup stage, is one of the few groups that’s not letting the expense or the logistics stand in their way.

[Read the full story here.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-06-02/scotland-s-tartan-army-shells-out-for-long-awaited-world-cup-return-in-boston?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MDM5MjM3NiwiZXhwIjoxNzgwOTk3MTc2LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJURlpZQ0lLR0NUTEcwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.-7DYXVnJSevaoNHkQZYMAzjPmo2MJdNZkyvzqMR0YNI)

The only reason Scotland made it to the World Cup is because they expanded the amount of teams to include almost every single one