By admin 
Some fans collect jerseys, others collect ticket stubs, but one Southern California soccer fanatic is collecting World Cups.
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This year, Carlos Castillo is attending his 9th-consecutive World Cup. His first one was 32 years ago. Despite soaring ticket prices, he’s hitting three countries in two weeks.
“In 1994, the U.S. was hosting, and we were fortunate enough to go see a match as a family. We went to the Rose Bowl, and then that was it. I was hooked,” he said.
Tickets back then cost just $25 each.
Since then, Castillo has visited France, South Korea, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar.
“I’ve literally seen the whole world because of the World Cup,” he said.
Even though prices for the 2026 World Cup have skyrocketed, he still plans on going to five matches in all three host countries.
“They’re expensive,” Castillo said. “The face value of the ticket that I ended up getting in Mexico City was about $300 something, but the resale value was about $1,000 or more.”
Castillo’s journey started in Los Angeles on Monday, when he watched Iran take on New Zealand. The next day, he’ll fly to Mexico City to see Colombia face Uzbekistan on Wednesday. From there, he’ll jet off to Vancouver to catch the Egypt-New Zealand match on June 21.
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The following day, he’ll be in San Francisco for another match before ending his World Cup trek in Houston on June 26.
“It’s not going to be a relaxing vacation. It’s going to be like stress, stress, stress, go, go, go. We can’t afford any setbacks whatsoever, or else we’ll miss a flight, we’ll miss a game,” he said.
It’s a love for the sport and experience that makes it all worth it.
“We’re all there to support our teams, but we’re also there to just enjoy the fact that we’re shoulder to shoulder with people from all over the world,” Castillo said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from. Ultimately, we’re all just fans of soccer, of futbol.”
And while this World Cup just got started, Castillo says it’s never too early to start thinking about the next one in 2030.
“Until I’m physically unable to get to the next World Cup, I’m going to continue that streak,” he said.
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