Israeli fan travels solo to World Cup, spends $6,000 on final ticket

Yehiel Malka from Petah Tikva said he planned for the World Cup at least a year and a half in advance, booking most of his travel early to avoid the soaring costs of tickets, hotels and flights. He spoke to ynet’s studio from Monterrey, Mexico, explaining that he organized the trip long before the tournament began and managed to get relatively reasonable prices on most of it.

Malka has already attended the opening match and Sweden versus Tunisia, and his itinerary still includes Guadalajara, Toronto, Miami, the semifinals in Dallas and Atlanta, and the final in New York. He said he paid about $6,000 for a ticket to the final. When asked whether that was excessive, he replied, “To see history is worth a lot of money.”

He is traveling alone. “Everyone is married with children and I am the only one free for a trip like this,” he said with a smile. Despite sensitivity around Israelis abroad, he said he has felt comfortable identifying himself as Israeli and has not encountered hostile reactions. “Surprisingly, I do not hesitate to say I am from Israel, and I have not run into remarks of any kind. I am receiving a lot of love, and that is surprising,” he said.

Malka added that the trip comes after a difficult period in his personal life. “I had some difficult years with my parents and found time to travel. To clear my head a bit,” he said. On the total cost, he said he is avoiding calculating it exactly, admitting, “I am afraid to sit down with Excel and quantify the sum of this trip,” but concluded, “If I thought it was worth it before the trip, today I am sure it is worth it.”