Brazilian couple Breno and Juliane Nogueira paid around R$46,000 to watch just one game of the Brazilian team at the World Cup.
The five-day trip aims to follow Brazil’s debut against Morocco, in New Jersey, this Saturday (13). Tickets represented almost half of the total cost, as the couple organized the entire program less than a month before the tournament. Even so, Breno states that he has no regrets and highlights: “I want to suffer by laughing or win by smiling.”
Watching the Brazilian team play in the World Cup has always been a dream of financial planner and content creator Breno Nogueira, 32 years old. This year, he and his wife, Juliane, 30, decided to make their wish come true, even if it meant spending around R$46,000 to see just one Brazil match in the United States.
The couple, who live in São Paulo, will watch Brazil’s first game in the tournament, against Morocco, in New Jersey (USA), this Saturday (13). For this, they reserved a total of five days of travel.
“Every World Cup I watch the World Cup and say: ‘Next time I’m going, next time I want to watch the game'”, he said in an interview. “And I wasn’t so excited this year, I didn’t even know the date. But I felt the atmosphere coming, even more so after the call-up.”
Excited, Breno decided to research an average price for everything he would have to spend: hotel, tickets and flights.
“I thought ‘can I or can’t I? I can’. And then I asked my wife if she would agree, she was super excited and we bought it”, he explained.
On social media, he shared a video detailing how much he spent on each expense of the trip. The values were:
- Taxi to/from airport: R$1,000
- Economy class tickets: R$15,000
- Travel insurance: R$1,000
- Dollars in currency: R$2,800
- Transport in the USA: R$1,000
- Accommodation: R$6,800
- Tickets: R$19,000
- Total: R$46,600
All expenses were paid in cash via credit or debit because, according to Breno, the couple is not in the habit of paying in installments for something that will happen before the end of the installments.
The plan is to only live the World Cup experience and, therefore, they did not reserve part of the budget for other tours. However, spending on the tournament could increase as the two do not rule out going to other games after Brazil’s debut.
“We want to see what the World Cup is like, we want to be in New York with a lot of Brazilians rooting for the team”, he reveals. “We bought a game just to test this, but I already told my wife that if we like it and it makes sense for us to stay, we’ll do it.”
Tickets
The tickets are the most expensive item on the couple’s spending list and were purchased through the FIFA resale website. According to Breno, they had the option of paying US$200 less (around R$1,000) for a place with less visibility.
“It was super far away, the chair was up there. I said: ‘Hey, wait, for $200?'” he said.
The seat chosen by the couple is in row 26, with a side view, close to the corner kick.
The financial planner also says that, if they had purchased the first batch released for the match, before resale, they would have spent around US$620 (R$3,100) on each ticket.
Last minute decision and expectation
According to Breno, the value was high because the decision was made at the last minute. All travel-related purchases were made less than a month before the tournament.
“If I had bought it before, I would have saved around R$15,000 to R$18,000”, he reveals. “It’s the price of flexibility.”
Even with the high amount invested, he says he won’t regret going if Brazil loses.
“I want to suffer by laughing or win by smiling”, he says. “It seems that the theme of the Brazilian team for Brazilians has become too heavy. And I think we forgot that it’s for fun.”
“We are taking it easy, without the obligation to bring the cup. But, yes, with the obligation to have fun”, he says.