Following a team at the World Cup can involve a tremendous amount of transportation and accommodations planning with some flexibility thrown in once the knockout phase is reached or an early trip home if it’s not.

We’ll take a look at a few examples to give you some ideas of the best travel routes for following a team.

Portugal

Portuguese fans get to enjoy the benefit of playing consecutive matches in the same venue, something that most World Cup teams don’t experience. That’s because their national team will play DR Congo on June 17 and Uzbekistan on June 23 with both matches taking place in Houston.

Then the side heads to South Florida to take on Colombia in Miami Gardens on June 27. As for the route to take, driving or flying is recommended as neither a train nor a bus journey between the cities is straightforward or fast. But do note that the drive is not short at 17 hours – although it does have some beautiful parts, including Louisiana’s Bayou Country and the Florida panhandle – and flight time is much faster at three hours.

That said, the real challenge will be planning for what follows the Colombia match as four possibilities exist.

If Portugal tops its group, a trip to Kansas City, Mo., will need to be planned for a July 3 round of 32 contest there. Conversely, a second-place finish would mean that the Portuguese squad and its supporters will need to head to Toronto for a match on July 2 that will be played in Canada’s largest city. Interestingly, finishing as one of the better third-place sides would result in the shortest route, up to Atlanta, for a game that’ll be played on July 1.

The latter of those three options is the only one that can be driven in one day, and flights are recommended for each of them.

Of course, if Portugal fails to qualify out of its group, trip planning will come to an abrupt end.

Once the uncertainty of Portugal’s knockout phase path has been clarified, you’ll know when and where the team will play every round after that if it keeps winning. For example, if Portugal finishes in first place in Group K and ultimately advances to the final, knockout phase journeys would need to be planned by its fans for trips from Kansas City to Vancouver, British Columbia, back to Kansas City, to Atlanta and to New York.

New Zealand

New Zealand is another country that will play consecutive matches in the same venue. But before that happens, the team and its supporters will need to travel to the Los Angeles metropolitan area. There, more specifically in Inglewood, is where the Oceania side takes on Iran on June 15.

After those 90 minutes have been played, it’s time to head north, to Vancouver, 1,300 miles away. That’s where New Zealand will face Egypt on June 21 and Belgium on June 26.

Of course, flying is the easiest option for that West Coast trip. The flight will last about three hours. If you want to drive, the journey will be beautiful and mostly green but will take about 20 hours driving time. An option if you want to be adventurous would be to ride the Coast Starlight to Portland or Seattle and then transfer to an Amtrak Cascades train to go the rest of the way to Vancouver. Note, however, that an overnight stay would be necessary before transferring.

If New Zealand surprises and tops this group, the next trip will be a short one, just 140 miles south to Seattle. That distance can be easily traversed by car, bus or train. The side would play there on July 1. Conversely, a second-place finish will result in the team and its fans heading all the way to Dallas for a July 3 game. Of course, a flight is recommended here although going via land would make for a memorable experience.

And if the squad advances as one of the best third-place teams, then there are two different possibilities to consider, depending on which eight third-place countries advance. Notably, one of them will result in no travel at all, simply remaining in Vancouver and playing there for a third straight time on July 2. The other is an especially long road trip to New York for a June 30 matchup. Flying’s the only reasonable option in that latter scenario due to the short turnaround.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina deserves a mention as the team with the most travel demands of the group stage – i.e. the most travel planning required of its supporters. The squad will play in Toronto on June 12, Los Angeles on June 18 and Seattle on June 24. There are enough days between those games to allow for just ground transport to be used. However, that’s only recommended if you’re adventurous and focused on exploring the countries.

Conclusion

Regardless of which national team you’ll be following, you have numerous travel options available to you. One is to simply fly from city to city, which is great if you want to focus your time on being immersed in the World Cup atmosphere. The other is to incorporate ground transport, allowing you to take some time away from the festivities and experience parts of the United States, Canada and Mexico that you’d not have otherwise seen.

In any case, wherever you are at any given time, Sofascore will provide scores, stats and alerts to keep you updated on happenings at the World Cup.