I Worked Remotely During the World Cup. Here Is What I Wish I Knew Before Showing Up.
The idea of working remotely during the World Cup sounds romantic. Laptop at a cafe in the morning, match in the afternoon, celebratory drinks at night. Wake up, repeat.
The reality involves a lot more logistics than Instagram suggests. I learned most of this the hard way over three host cities and about a dozen matches. If you plan to work and watch football across time zones, countries, and questionable WiFi, pay attention to the stuff that actually breaks your week.
The accommodation strategy nobody talks about
Everyone books near the stadium. This is a mistake.
Urban stadiums (Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, Seattle) are walkable from downtown and surrounded by real infrastructure. You can stay in a normal neighborhood, work from a normal coworking space, and hop a short transit ride to the match.
Suburban stadiums (MetLife in East Rutherford, Gillette in Foxborough, AT&T in Arlington) are surrounded by parking lots. The nearest coworking space to Gillette Stadium? One. And Boston itself is 30 miles away. I made this mistake in 2022 during a conference in Arlington. Never again.
The rule: stay where the coworking spaces are, not where the stadium is. Downtown cores have reliable internet, proper desks, and coffee that is not stadium priced. The match is 3 hours. Your work week is 40. Prioritize the thing you will be doing more of.
If you are going to multiple host cities, book accommodation near transit hubs. Toronto’s UP Express connects the airport to downtown in 25 minutes. Mexico City’s Metro covers the central neighborhoods well. In Houston, the METRORail is $1.25. That is essentially free compared to the Uber surge pricing you will face on match days.
Your internet backup plan (you will need one)
A cafe with “fast WiFi” during a normal week becomes a cafe with 80 people streaming match highlights simultaneously on game day. Your Zoom call at 2pm will not go well. I tested this theory. I lost.
What actually works:
- Coworking space wired connections. Not their WiFi. Their Ethernet. Most spaces in host cities have dedicated connections that hold up even when the building is packed.
- An eSIM with backup data. Airalo, Holafly, Nomad: pick one and buy a plan before you land. When the cafe WiFi collapses 20 minutes before your client call, you will switch to mobile data and thank yourself. I run Airalo as primary backup and keep a local SIM as tertiary.
- Mexico specific advice: the average broadband speed is 43.6 Mbps. That is fine for email and document work. It is not fine for HD video calls or large file transfers. Book coworking spaces with verified speed tests, not cafes with “free WiFi” signs. I tested three coworking spaces in CDMX on match day. Only one held above 40 Mbps on WiFi. The wired connections were all fine.
Time zones will make or break you
Most World Cup workcation guides gloss over this part. Time zones are the single biggest variable you cannot control, and they determine whether your week flows or falls apart.
| Your work time zone | Match schedule impact |
|---|---|
| European hours from East Coast (Toronto, NY, Philly, Atlanta) | Work mornings (overlapping with London), watch afternoons. This flows beautifully. |
| European hours from West Coast (Vancouver, Seattle, LA, SF) | Zero overlap with Europe. You will be working nights or missing meetings. |
| US hours from Mexico | Same time zones as your US colleagues. No issue. |
| Anywhere to Asia Pacific clients | All host cities have terrible Asia Pacific overlap. Prepare for early mornings. |
If you have flexibility in your schedule, the East Coast cities are the sweet spot. I worked Toronto mornings for two weeks with a London based team and it was the most natural rhythm I have found for transatlantic remote work. If you do not have flexibility, accept that you will be working odd hours and plan your match attendance around your non negotiable meetings, not the other way around.
How to actually afford this
Match tickets are expensive. Accommodation near stadiums is worse. I spent more than I planned in my first host city and recalibrated fast. Here is what kept costs under control:
- Do not buy tickets for every match. Pick 2 or 3 games max. Watch the rest at bars, watch parties, or coworking spaces. The atmosphere at a packed bar in the host city is often better than nosebleed seats. I paid $180 for upper deck seats at one match and had more fun at a $0 watch party two days later.
- Mexico City is your budget anchor. $3 beers, $12 meals, $45 to 65 daily budget. If you are hopping between host cities, spend more time in Mexico and less in the US.
- Coworking monthly passes are cheaper than daily passes if you are staying 2+ weeks. Most spaces offer significant discounts for multi week stays. If you are in Houston for the group stage, do not buy 14 day passes. Get the monthly.
- Houston is the value pick in the US. $1.25 transit, $30 day passes, $20 meals. Philadelphia comes close. Miami comes last: $47 day passes and the most expensive meals among host cities. I skipped Miami entirely.
The one mistake everyone makes
They treat the World Cup like a vacation, not a work trip. Then their deadlines pile up, their sleep schedule collapses, and they spend match day exhausted and resentful.
Block your work hours first. Then fit matches around them. Not the other way around.
The people who thrive during this tournament are not the ones with the best tickets. They are the ones who figured out their WiFi before they needed it, booked the right neighborhood, and treated their laptop as seriously as their match schedule. Be that person. I was not that person for the first week. It cost me a client deadline and a lot of stress. The second and third weeks, after I fixed my setup, were some of the best remote work days I have had.
Next reads: World Cup host cities ranked for remote workers · Best eSIMs for digital nomads · How to stay productive when your office changes every month