E-Paper
Believe it or not: Superfan ready to sell his house to fund the trip to 2026 football World Cup in US, Mexico and Canada
The house is likely to fetch Andy Milne 350,000 pounds. The retired teacher's passion for football knows no bounds.
There are fans, and then there are superfans who go the whole hog. Andy Milne is one such superfan. Believe it or not, he has been to nine football World Cups to date. His passion for watching these games from the stands started in Spain 1982, and he hasn't looked back since.
Milne, a die-hard supporter of the English football team, had first made the news in 2022 during the World Cup in Qatar. A picture of him posing with a replica of the World Cup trophy had brought him a lot of celebrity.
Travelling to a World Cup is no easy task. It requires a lot of money to begin with and if you are a retired teacher like Milne, arranging the funds can be all the more challenging. Since he couldn't find any reasonable way to fund his trip to the USA, Canada and Mexico later this year -- the venues for the World Cup — he has decided to go extreme.
Milne, who now lives in Thailand, has decided to sell his house in Cheshire, Norwich. It can bring him at least 350,000 pounds.
"It is going on the market because I'm selling it to go to the World Cup," Milne told the Mirror.
"The last tournament in Qatar was a present to myself, I had been saving for years. We have had a second home for 27 years, so it felt like the right time to cash in."
As said before, these passions can cost a lot of money, so the 62-year-old is not averse to the idea of couch-surfing. "I always try to do things cheaply if I can. I will couch surf where possible. I am lucky to have friends in Mexico, Dallas and Vancouver," he said.
Since 2022, Milne has gained so much recognition that he was invited to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards in 2024 as a guest.
One at times feels bad for such superfans, especially if their team has not done well at these marquee events. England, for example, hasn't won the World Cup since 1966. Despite boasting the most popular league on the planet and some of the finest footballers over the years, they haven't been able to win it for a second time. One really hopes Milne's relentless efforts bring him a lot of joy this time around in the form of the Three Lions going all the way.
England are paired with 2018 finalists Croatia, Ghana and Panama in Group L. They kick off their campaign against Croatia on June 18, followed by matches against Ghana and Panama on June 24 and June 28, respectively. All of these matches will be played in the USA, and Milne has all the relevant tickets, all the way to the final.
