48 teams. 104 matches. One climate bill.
Delegation travel emissions for all 48 teams at World Cup 2026. Raw totals. No normalisation.
The tracker uses 50 people per delegation — but this is explicitly framed as FIFA's financial liability baseline, not an actual delegation size.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Regulations article 26.1 sets a financial cap: FIFA subsidises business-class flights for up to 50 delegation members (article 38–39). Actual delegations vary — 23–26 players + varying staff, often exceeding 50. Teams may bring more at their own expense.
The 50-person figure is defensible because it represents FIFA's committed financial liability for emissions. The tracker answers: "What emissions is FIFA on the hook for?" — not "What did teams actually emit?"
Source: FIFA World Cup 26 Regulations, articles 24.1, 26.1, 38–39.
For sub-150 km legs, the tracker assumes charter coach transport. This is operationally defensible:
The 150 km threshold is still arbitrary, but the coach emissions factor (0.02717 kg CO₂e/km/pax, DEFRA 2024) behind it is grounded in real-world logistics.
This dashboard is actively maintained. The most recent changes include:
The Infantino tab tracks FIFA President Gianni Infantino's private Gulfstream G650 (registration A7-CGG, callsign QQE236) during the tournament. This is a separate investigation measuring individual executive travel emissions, not delegation travel.
It uses a fuel-burn model rather than DEFRA distance factors:
Data sources: adsb.lol (primary, real-time ADS-B) and OpenSky Network (OAuth2-authenticated fallback). Flight history backfilled daily from OpenSky's aircraft flight API. All 17 North American airports hardcoded with coordinates; flights to unknown airports are skipped.
This measures Infantino's personal aircraft emissions — not FIFA delegation travel, not stadium operations, not fan travel. The comparison cards show annual and lifetime per-person equivalents for context.
This tracker covers delegation travel emissions using FIFA's 50-person financial liability baseline — the carbon footprint FIFA is committed to subsidising for the 48 national team delegations as they travel between base camps and match venues during the tournament.
Fan travel accounts for the majority of total World Cup emissions — 80% at Brazil 2014, 75% at Russia 2018, and 52% (transport) / 64% (travel + accommodation) at Qatar 2022. None of this is captured here.
Group stage: Teams travel base → venue on match day minus 1, return to base after each match. Two legs per match per team. Three group stage matches = six legs total per team. (FIFA art. 18.3)
Knockout stage: From round of 32, teams release base camp and move venue to venue. One leg per match, no return legs. (FIFA art. 18.4)
Pre-tournament flights from each team's departure point to their base camp are included in this tracker. Under FIFA World Cup 2026 Regulations (articles 38–39), FIFA covers business-class return flights for up to 50 delegation members to the tournament.
We researched actual departure points for all 48 teams using official federation announcements and reputable sports media in native languages. Key findings:
Total home-to-base emissions: ~2,746 tonnes CO₂e. This is in addition to in-tournament travel between base camps and match venues.
Departure points were assigned confidence levels based on source quality:
Of 48 teams: 1 confirmed (Mexico), 8 reported (training camp departures), and 39 assumed (home capitals). Teams with non-capital departures include Iran (Antalya), Iraq (Girona), Qatar (Dublin), Congo DR (Marbella), and others.
DEFRA 2024 greenhouse gas conversion factors are used:
Source: UK DEFRA 2024 Greenhouse Gas Conversion Factors, gov.uk. The flight factor includes the 1.7× radiative forcing multiplier applied to direct CO₂ emissions.
Mode is determined by haversine distance between origin and destination:
Past tournament reference lines are modelled estimates using the same methodology as 2026:
Group and knockout stage figures for Russia 2018 and Brazil 2014 are the most defensible part — calculated from actual fixture schedules, confirmed base camp locations, haversine distances, and DEFRA 2024 factors. Home-to-base figures use rough continental averages and remain approximations.
No official delegation-only emissions data exists for any past World Cup. All published reports lump delegation into broader categories.
Historical comparisons use raw CO₂e totals, not normalised per-team or per-match figures. The editorial thesis is that FIFA's expansion from 32 to 48 teams is the primary cause of increased emissions. Raw totals reflect the actual consequence of this decision.