Sports and Big Events

Overview

Britain invented or codified most of the sports it loves, and it treats them with a seriousness Americans recognize from college football. The difference is access. The biggest events are not sold to the highest bidder on an open market. They are rationed through memberships, ballots, loyalty points and queues, and the law in some cases makes reselling tickets a crime.

That means a little homework pays off. With six months of planning you can usually get into almost anything except the very biggest matches. With two weeks of planning, you can still see top-level sport if you are flexible about which match, which day or which sport.

Premier League football tickets

The 2026–27 Premier League season kicked off on the weekend of August 21–22, 2026, and ends with all ten final-day matches played at the same time on Sunday, May 30, 2027. Twenty clubs each play 38 matches, 19 at home, so a big club has roughly one home league game every two weeks, plus domestic cup and European games.

How the ticket system works

1. Season-ticket holders take most of the seats at the big clubs. Waiting lists for season tickets run to years.
2. Members come next. Most clubs sell an annual paid membership (prices vary widely by club, often in the range of tens of pounds a year) that lets you buy match tickets in a members' sale or enter a ballot for them. At the most popular clubs, members with a history of buying tickets (often called loyalty points or credits) get priority, so a brand-new member may only win tickets for less popular games.
3. General sale is whatever is left. At clubs such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham, there is usually little or nothing for big games. At many mid-table clubs, tickets for less glamorous fixtures do reach general sale.
4. Official resale platforms run by each club let season-ticket holders and members return seats they can't use. You normally need to be a member to buy from them. Tickets reappear in the days before a match, so keep checking.
5. Official hospitality is the one route open to anyone, anytime. Clubs sell packages with a guaranteed seat, a meal and often a drink, either directly or through authorized partners listed on the club website. Expect to pay from very roughly £150 (about $200) to well over £1,000 (about $1,330) per person, depending on the club, the opponent and the package.

Ordinary adult match tickets bought through the club usually cost somewhere around £30–£100 (about $40–$133), with the biggest clubs and best seats at the top of that range. Check prices on the club's official site.

Why touts and unofficial resellers are risky

In England and Wales, selling a ticket to a designated football match without the organizer's permission is a criminal offense under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Unofficial resale sites and street touts still operate, but the risks fall on you:

• Most tickets are now digital and tied to the buyer's membership. Clubs cancel tickets they find being resold, and the original holder can be banned. You may be turned away at the turnstile with no refund from the club.
• Resold tickets can put you in the wrong section, including among away fans, which is uncomfortable at best.
• Fake listings and phishing sites copy club branding. Check that the address is the club's own website or an authorized partner named on it.

Stadium tours as a fallback

If tickets fail, every major club runs stadium tours on non-match days, typically costing around £25–£45 (about $33–$60) for adults. They take you into dressing rooms, the players' tunnel and pitchside, and most include a museum. Popular tours include Old Trafford and the Etihad in Manchester, Anfield and Everton's new waterfront stadium in Liverpool, and the Emirates, Stamford Bridge and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. Tottenham's stadium also has a rooftop walk. Wembley Stadium runs tours too, and the National Football Museum is in Manchester. Book ahead online, especially on weekends. See London and Manchester and Liverpool.

Lower leagues and Scottish football: the easier options

Below the Premier League sit the three divisions of the English Football League (the Championship, League One and League Two), then the semi-professional "non-league" pyramid. Crowds are passionate, tickets are usually on general sale on the club website, and adult prices typically run around £20–£40 (about $27–$53) in the EFL and around £10–£15 (about $13–$20) in non-league. Many old grounds are a short walk from the train station and have a pub next door that welcomes visitors.

In Wales, Cardiff City and Swansea City play in the English leagues, and Wrexham, owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney since 2021, now sells out most home games, so treat it like a big club. In Northern Ireland, the Irish League is easy to attend, with Linfield at the national stadium, Windsor Park, in Belfast.

Scotland

Celtic and Rangers in Glasgow sell almost all their seats to season-ticket holders, and the derby between them, the Old Firm, is practically impossible for visitors. Other Scottish Premiership clubs are much easier: Hearts at Tynecastle and Hibernian at Easter Road in Edinburgh, and Aberdeen at Pittodrie, usually sell tickets to the public for around £25–£35 (about $33–$47). Hampden Park in Glasgow, the national stadium, houses the Scottish Football Museum and runs tours.

Women's football is booming since England won the European Championship in 2022 and retained it in 2025. Tickets for Women's Super League games are cheap and widely available, and some clubs stage big matches at their main stadiums.

Looking ahead: the UK and Ireland co-host the men's European Championship, Euro 2028, with matches in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

Wimbledon

The Championships run from June 28 to July 11, 2027 at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in southwest London. Unlike most Grand Slams, Wimbledon keeps ticket prices for its show courts fairly low and makes them hard to get instead.

The public ballot

The ballot for 2027 opened in early September 2026 and has closed; successful entrants are told by email in October 2026. To enter in future years you need a free myWIMBLEDON account, and the ballot usually opens in late summer the year before. You can apply for up to two tickets, one application per household. You can't choose the day or court: you are offered a random pair (or two single seats, not together) for one day on Centre Court, No. 1, No. 2 or No. 3 Court, and can accept or decline.

The Queue

Wimbledon is one of the few major events that still sells tickets to people who simply line up on the day. The Queue forms in Wimbledon Park, across the road from the grounds, and each person gets a numbered Queue Card. Each day a limited number of show-court seats are sold to the front of the line, and thousands of grounds passes give access to the outside courts, where you can watch top players in the first week from a few feet away.

• For a show-court seat, people camp overnight in the park; that is allowed and part of the tradition. For a grounds pass in the first week, arriving around dawn usually works, and on many days later in the morning is fine.
• Bring a card for payment (the grounds are cashless), food, a layer for the morning and patience. Once inside, you can buy returned show-court seats from resale kiosks during the afternoon, with the proceeds going to charity.
• The first Monday to middle Sunday is the sweet spot: dozens of matches across the grounds. In the second week, outside courts empty out and the Queue gets longer for fewer tickets.

Debentures and resale

Debenture holders own a five-year right to a Centre Court or No. 1 Court seat for every day of the Championships, and theirs are the only Wimbledon tickets that can legally be resold. Debenture tickets trade through specialist brokers at prices far above face value, especially for the finals, and include access to debenture lounges. Other Wimbledon tickets are non-transferable, and those sold on unofficial resale sites can be canceled. Official hospitality packages are sold through Wimbledon's own site.

Cricket

Cricket confuses Americans until they see a match, and then many fall for it. Think of a long, social day at the ballpark with a picnic, where the game unfolds slowly and the crowd talks through it.

The formats

• Test matches: Up to five days, usually starting around 11 a.m. with breaks for lunch and tea and finishing about 6:30 p.m. The top level of the game, and a day ticket covers one day.
• One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and T20 internationals: A single day or evening, with a guaranteed result.
• The Hundred: A 100-ball format with eight men's and eight women's city-based teams, played from late July to August. Games last about two and a half hours, with music and family pricing. The best introduction for a first-timer.
• County cricket: The T20 Blast on summer evenings and the four-day County Championship, both cheap and rarely sold out.

The Ashes in 2027

England host Australia for the men's Ashes, the oldest rivalry in the sport, from June 18 to August 2, 2027. The five Tests are at Trent Bridge in Nottingham (the first Test, June 18–22), Lord's, Edgbaston in Birmingham, the Rose Bowl near Southampton and The Oval in London. Trent Bridge ran its ballot through September 2026 and opened general sale on October 14; the other grounds ran similar ballots, and the biggest days sell out fast. Check each ground's site for remaining seats and returns; day five tickets are often cheaper and can be sold on the day if the match is still alive. The women's Ashes also comes to England in 2027, including a T20 at Trent Bridge on July 3.

Lord's and match-day tips

Lord's in St John's Wood, London, owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), is the "home of cricket." Its tours take you into the Long Room and the dressing rooms and past the Ashes urn in the museum. On match days:

• Most grounds let you bring your own food. Rules on bringing alcohol vary; Lord's allows a limited amount, many grounds allow none. Check before you pack.
• Bring sunscreen and a rain jacket. Rain stops play, and the ground staff cover the field. Ticket refund rules for weather depend on how many overs are lost; read them when you buy.
• Don't walk along the aisles while a bowler is running in. Wait for the end of the over.
• Edgbaston's Eric Hollies Stand is the place for fancy dress and singing; the members' pavilions are formal, with dress codes.

Rugby

Rugby union is the national winter sport of Wales, a huge deal in Scotland and the game of choice for much of England's middle class. The crowds mix freely, with no segregated away sections, and the atmosphere is friendly.

The Six Nations

England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France and Italy play each other once every February and March. The 2027 men's championship opens on Friday, February 5, with Ireland v England in Dublin, and ends on Saturday, March 13. Matches in Britain in 2027:

Kickoff times are set for TV and can change, so confirm on the official Six Nations site. Wales v England in Cardiff and England v France are the hardest tickets; Scotland v Italy is usually the easiest.

Six Nations face-value tickets commonly run from roughly £50 (about $67) to well over £150 (about $200), and the same warnings about unofficial resale apply. In November, the home nations play southern-hemisphere teams in the autumn internationals, which are easier to get into.

For club rugby, the English Premiership and the United Rugby Championship (with teams from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Italy and South Africa) sell tickets easily, often for £20–£50 (about $27–$67). England's women, the Red Roses, won the World Cup at Twickenham in 2025 and now fill large stadiums. Rugby league, a separate 13-a-side code, is the heartland sport of northern England, with its Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

Golf: St Andrews and the links

Scotland is the home of golf, and links golf on firm, sandy coastal ground with wind, pot bunkers and bump-and-run shots is unlike anything at home. Most of the famous courses, including the Old Course, welcome visitors on set days.

The Old Course, St Andrews

The Old Course is a public course run by the St Andrews Links Trust, along with six other courses in town. It closes on Sundays, when it becomes a public park. There are four ways on:

1. Advance tee times: The Links Trust takes applications for the following year starting around late August or early September. You need at least two golfers per group, and dates go quickly. Expect very limited availability in 2027 because of the Open.
2. The daily ballot: Enter online, by phone or at a Links clubhouse before 2 p.m. two days before the day you want to play, with names, home clubs and handicaps for two to four golfers. The draw is made 48 hours ahead. The ballot green fee in 2026 was £355 (about $470). Your odds are best outside summer and away from busy dates the Links Trust publishes.
3. Singles and standby: Single golfers can put their names down the day before for the standby list and hear around 7 p.m. whether a spot has opened in a group that isn't full. There is also a same-day line at the first-tee pavilion; the old overnight queuing has ended.
4. Packages: The Links Trust's own packages pair an Old Course round with a round on another course; in 2026 its two-round Swilcan package cost £700 (about $930) in high season and £530 (about $705) in low season. Authorized tour operators and some hotels also sell packages with guaranteed Old Course times, at a premium; for peak season, book a year out.

You need a recognized handicap to play the Old Course; the limits have long been 24 for men and 36 for women, but confirm the current rule on the Links Trust site before you enter. Bring proof, such as your GHIN record. Check the Links Trust site for 2027 green fees, which usually rise a little each year.

Other great links

Links etiquette

• Play quickly. A round should take about four hours; be ready when it is your turn.
• Walk. Carts (called buggies) are rare and often available only with a medical certificate. Hire a trolley or a caddie; caddies know the lines and are worth it on your first round.
• Dress conservatively: collared shirts, no jeans. Some clubhouses ask men to wear a jacket and tie in certain rooms.
• Bring a handicap certificate or your GHIN record; many top courses ask to see it.
• Airlines carry golf bags as checked luggage, with fees that vary by carrier. Rental clubs are available at the big venues.

Next door in Ireland, the 2027 Ryder Cup is at Adare Manor in County Limerick, outside the UK; see Europe links for crossing over.

Horse racing

Racing in Britain is a social event as much as a sport. Days out run from tweed-and-champagne meetings to beer-and-bookies crowds of 70,000. You can bet in cash or by card with the bookmakers on the rails or on the Tote (pool betting); you must be 18.

Royal Ascot

Five days of racing in Berkshire, near Windsor, from Tuesday, June 15 to Saturday, June 19, 2027, with the royal procession by horse-drawn carriage each afternoon. The enclosure you choose sets the price and the dress code.

Overseas visitors without a member to sponsor them have historically been able to apply for Royal Enclosure badges through their embassy in London; ask Ascot about the current process early in the year. Dress codes are enforced at the gates, so read Ascot's official "What to Wear" guide for each enclosure before you shop. Trains from London Waterloo reach Ascot in under an hour.

The other big meetings

Cheltenham, Aintree and Epsom are run by the Jockey Club, which sells tickets on its own websites; book hotels early, because Cheltenham and Liverpool fill months ahead of their festivals.

The 2027 sporting calendar

The Tour de France start is free to watch from the roadside; hill climbs and town centers fill hours ahead, and accommodation in Edinburgh, Keswick and Cardiff will be scarce. For festivals and other events, see our festivals calendar and when to go.

Practical tips for match days

• ETA first: Americans need a UK Electronic Travel Authorisation before flying; see entry.
• Bags: Most stadiums ban large bags and backpacks, and few have left-luggage. Travel light or use a station luggage service.
• Getting there: Big events overwhelm trains and the Tube afterward. Plan your route home, and expect long lines at the station; see getting around.
• Weather: Rain and wind are normal at football and rugby from October to March. Seats are often uncovered.
• Money: Venues are mostly cashless, prices include VAT, and nobody tips at the bar; see money.
• Pubs: Watching a game in a pub is a great alternative to a ticket; see pubs. Some pubs near grounds are home-fans only on match days; look for signs.
• Hotels: Prices spike on big match weekends in Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Manchester; book early via where to stay.

Want help building a trip around a match, a tournament or a round at St Andrews? Our custom trip planning service does exactly that.