Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. You are probably not going to be able to afford a World Cup ticket.
Now for the good news: if you are going to be able to afford one anywhere, it will be in Toronto, where tickets are on average almost half as expensive as in New York, across the border. And even if you still can’t, Toronto has more than enough to keep the most ardent sports fan entertained.
To say that the 2026 World Cup has been controversial is an understatement. High ticket prices and an unwelcoming attitude for certain nations from Donald Trump has made the United States almost a no-go area for fans without the deepest pockets.
But there is an antidote in Canada, which is hosting six games in its biggest city.
Toronto is hosting six Fifa World Cup matches (Photo: Alex Pantling /FIFA via Getty)Canada has a more relaxed, gentle vibe than the US anyway, even among the skyscrapers of Toronto. The Ontario government’s decision to cap resale ticket prices at face value smacks of a civility the rest of the Western world can only dream about.
Toronto is home to Canada’s first football stadium – BMO Field (aka Toronto Stadium) was built less than 20 years ago for the Fifa U-20 World Cup – but ice hockey, baseball and basketball are what makes this city tick (Toronto hosts teams in all major professional leagues), so I first made a beeline for the Hockey Hall of Fame, in the heart of downtown.
Winter is the time to go to experience Canada’s national sport live, but this treasure trove of ice hockey tells the history of the game year-round. There are plenty of interactive exhibits, including getting padded up to test yourself as a shooter or a goalie in the shootout and shutout areas.
Videos showcase games everywhere, notably “Top 10 Goalies Gone Wild” and the highlights of Wayne Gretzky, one of the greatest sportspeople in the world, whose silky stick-work fooled defenders and goalies everywhere while winning four Stanley Cups and three World Cups.
Brittney Sykes of the Toronto Tempo during the game against the Chicago Sky at the Coca-Cola Coliseum (Photo: Mark Blinch/NBAE via Getty)From Canada’s favourite son, it was on to watching the team who might well become Toronto’s favourite daughters. The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is celebrating its 30th anniversary and Toronto – whose Raptors won the men’s NBA championship in 2019 – now has its female equivalent in the Toronto Tempo.
Here’s the irony about Canada: while there is a gentleness about the country in everyday life, they are as passionate about their sports teams as you can get. The Tempo made their debut at the Coca-Cola Coliseum (next door to the Toronto Stadium on the shore of Lake Ontario). They might have lost to the Washington Mystics, but the raucous crowd carried on their energy in their next game, where they beat the Seattle Storm behind the sharp shooting of Marina Mabrey.
Part-owner Lilly Singh, the 37-year-old Torontonian YouTuber, actress and TV presenter is a visible presence courtside and said the Tempo’s arrival “feels long overdue”, adding “investment needs to catch up with culture. It’s not a trend, this is culture now. We’ve all been ready for a WNBA team, we’ve all been watching women’s sports. I don’t think there’s a single woman here that’s like, ‘I just found out that women can be athletes!'”
It’s dead easy to buy tickets online, and you can get the cheapest seats for less than £30.
A few blocks away is the Left Field Brewery, your typical North American sports bar, but with a twist. It goes the extra mile to be welcoming to all and women’s sports are always on. I’d heartily recommend the wings and S’Mores Brownie Sundae, which I enjoyed while watching Barcelona v Real Madrid and the women’s ice hockey clash between Ottawa Charge and Boston Fleet next to a couple of excitable women’s ice hockey fans.
Another bonus about this city is that Canadian dollars are more favourable to British visitors than US dollars, the exchange rate bringing a happy hour beer down to as little as £2.70 in downtown sports bars, compared to around £5.20 south of the border.
I found an unlikely sports highlight in the Aga Khan Museum, which opened in the affluent North York district more than a decade ago and houses more than 1,000 rare objects of Islamic art. As part of a summer-long exhibition dedicated to games and sport, it is currently displaying a 12th-century chess set from Iran – one of the world’s oldest – as well as exhibits on backgammon, falconry and polo.
The most moving display was the Arab Women’s Gym series, a collection of stereotype-challenging photographs by contemporary Moroccan-British artist Hassan Hajjaj of women participating in football, boxing, surfing and more.
Patrick Corbin of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Rogers Centre (Photo: Vaughn Ridley/Getty)The quintessential sporting summer experience is downtown, where the Toronto Blue Jays are celebrating their 50th season after reaching the World Series last year. Catching a game at the Rogers Centre will question all you knew about Canada and baseball.
On the Saturday afternoon I went, it didn’t have the cut-grass, beers and peanuts bonhomie I’d expected having watched movies like Field Of Dreams. Instead, it was a fever dream of light shows, loudness and, luckily, home runs.
An upper-level ticket will cost you around £30, but if you want to sit behind the batter’s box, expect to pay as much as £680, more for big games. Factor in more for food during the two and a half hours, whether it’s a foot-long hot dog, poutine or mac and cheese with maple bacon.
Blue Jays fans add condiments to hot dogs before a game (Photo: Thomas Skrlj/MLB Photos via Getty)Rogers Centre was the world’s first retractable-roof stadium and has spectacular views of the city’s landmark CN Tower when it’s open. It was closed, transforming the stadium into a riot of colour and noise. It didn’t hurt that the Jays won 14-1, hit three home runs featured a Mexican wave and rousing renditions of “Hey Baby” and “OK Blue Jays”, their “seventh-inning stretch” song that is still an ear worm a week later.
That the Blue Jays are so beloved is in evidence round the corner from my hotel, the Drake. It’s a fashionable joint that makes pains to point out that it has been around longer than Toronto’s foremost musical export of the moment, who shares its name.
The West Queens West area has a mellow, 90s hip hop feel about it, with a mural depicting a tribute to the Blue Jays’ last World Series win 33 years ago referencing the Souls of Mischief classic, 93 ‘Til Infinity adding to the aura.
St Lawrence Market is the place to go for street food (Photo: Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty)The neighbourhood is essentially a strip along Queen Street West that acts as a magnet for creatives, with galleries, boutiques and a graffiti alley, as well as bars and bakeries. But there’s no better place to get a taste of Toronto’s diverse food scene – which represents a mouthwatering array of global cuisines – than the St Lawrence Market, which is around 200 years old.
After a divine Canadian maple coffee at Balzac’s (a reasonable £3.20), I tucked into a peameal bacon sandwich at the Carousel Bakery on a Culinary Adventure Co tour. If you like cheese, fish, chocolate, berries and mustard – and some of those at the same time – then this is the one for you. It will take your tastebuds places they never knew existed. Yes, eating blackberries with mustard is a thing, and it tastes so, so good.
The perfect way to burn off the calories is on a Toronto Bicycle Tour of the city’s 15 islands. A quick ferry ride to these car-free oases in Lake Ontario is a sharp contrast to the buzzing city. The view of the skyline from the islands is the best in the city, and the welcome from the residents is warm. I pedaled around 10km over the best part of a morning – just be careful around the nudist beach if the weather is warm.
Cycle around the Islands for the best skyline views of Toronto (Photo: Anjelika Gretskaia/Getty)But the highlight for this sports fan? The Tempo and the Blue Jays. The crowd was deafening at the Tempo game and Marina Mabrey hitting a three-pointer from almost halfway will stay in my memory forever. The fever dream of the Blue Jays was bolstered by some of the friendliest fans in the world.
I’ll be back, if only to experience ice hockey season in this welcoming, sports-mad North American city.
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