$75 caviar-topped tots. A day's pay worth of beer. Here's the World Cup menu — and prices

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — World Cup tickets are expensive. Flights to North America are expensive. Hotel rooms in many places are expensive.

Then there's the price of beer.

There are some fun — and yes, sometimes pricey — food and drink offerings at the venues playing host to the World Cup. A $75 caviar-topped tray of tater tots and a $40 empanada weighing in at 5 pounds (2.2 kilograms) for the daring or for sharing in Miami. Rib-eye tacos for $8 in Guadalajara, Mexico. Something called a Twinkie cheeseburger that has nothing to do with dessert for $22 in Los Angeles.

Prices, in many cases, aren't all that different from what U.S. fans would experience on NFL Sundays or college football Saturdays. But some international fans aren't used to such pricing and are calling foul, especially over beer prices that can top $20.

“It's unfair. It's not right. It's wrong,” said Thomas Schüller, an engineer from Germany in Toronto to watch his national team play over the weekend, as he held a beer that cost him 24.25 Canadian dollars (about $17 or 15 euros). “It's three times the cost of what I pay in my country.”

But is that stopping him?

“Well, no,” Schüller acknowledged.

There is clearly some sticker shock among international visitors to this World Cup, especially when it comes to the concession prices. In Europe, it's not uncommon for beers to be perhaps around 4 or 5 euros (about $5-6).

There's also no shortage of intrigue on the menu at the concession stands at stadiums across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

“Never seen anything like it,” said Janine Arbetter, a fan from Austria, as she waited for a hot dog, chips and soda combo in Miami last week. The pre-tip price: $19.35 (about 17 euros), which included a discount for using Visa. “It's a lot of food for a little snack.”

Some Argentina fans happily showed off their $34 lobster rolls from a match in Kansas City on social media, but in Toronto, the brisket sandwich with chips and a bottle of soda for nearly 40 Canadian dollars ($28) had some online commenters lamenting it as “robbery.”

“It's OK, more or less, for the World Cup,” German fan Daniel Feldmann said of the food prices while watching a match in Vancouver last week.

FIFA, the sport's governing body and the tournament organizer, has very specific rules on just about everything related to the World Cup — and there are guidelines that concessionaires have to follow as well. But prices can vary by market, as do the food and drink offerings. And that means the experience in one city might look, or taste, nothing like what's offered in another.

The “Fancy AF Tots” for $75 at Miami Stadium aren't really tots at all — it's three deep-fried hash brown patties, with caviar, creme fraiche and chives. (For those who just want the caviar, it'll be $70.) Southern California's Twinkie cheeseburger is in fact a burger topped with a Texas Twinkie — a bacon-wrapped jalapeño stuffed with brisket and cream cheese.

But there's also a slew of choices specific to a local market; for example, Vancouver offers short rib poutine (an iconic Canadian dish of fries loaded with beef gravy, pulled short rib and cheese curds) along with a maple bacon smokie (smoked sausage topped with bacon onion jam that features Canadian maple syrup).

And in Miami, the signature offerings include pan con lechon (a Cuban-style sandwich with pork, infused with citrus mojo sauce and served on a toasted full Cuban loaf) and Empanada Mundial (the five-pound, handmade, chicken-and-cheese-stuffed dish named after the World Cup).

Both Vancouver and Miami have Sodexo Live as a food and beverage provider, and the typical game-day menus in both stadiums were revised a bit to accommodate a soccer crowd.

“We want it to feel like Miami when you’re here,” said Zach Williams, Sodexo Live's vice president of operations at Miami Stadium. “Everything we do around the Miami Stadium, we want to make sure everybody understands that when they come here, they’re getting a Miami experience.”

In Mexico City, a beer could cost a day's pay — literally. The daily minimum wage in Mexico City is just 315.04 pesos (roughly $18). Some beers at Mexico City Stadium were selling for between 299 and 310 pesos — about twice as much as fans would ordinarily pay in the same stadium when the World Cup isn't in town.

But in Atlanta, where Falcons owner and stadium operator Arthur Blank promised the low concession prices he's championed for many years would hold for the World Cup, pizza slices were $3, 32-ounce sodas were $4, a cheeseburger was $5, chicken tenders with fries were $6 and beers could be had for as little as $8.

Jonathan Arango, a 33-year-old from Greenville, South Carolina, was at a match in Atlanta with his wife, daughter and father.

“In total for what we got — three orders of tacos, a slice of pizza, two waters and a Coke — we spent like $50,” Arango said. “Compared to what we’ve paid at other events ... it's nice after you paid a lot for a ticket.”

And Schüller pointed out that even though the tournament does come around every four years, it still feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“The entire football world is having fun,” Schüller said, “so cheers to that.”

Associated Press journalists Tales Azzoni, Maura Carey, Andrew Dalton, Carlos Rodriguez, Alanis Thames, Stephen Whyno and Ben Kule contributed to this story from various World Cup venues. Kule is a student in the University of Georgia’s Carmical Sports Media Institute.

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/FIFA-World-Cup

A $75 dish called “Fancy AF Tots” is shown containing fried hash brown potatoes, caviar, crème fraiche and chives at a World Cup match at Miami Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Tim Reynolds)

A Netherlands fan takes a drink on the stands while waiting for the World Cup Group F soccer match between the Netherlands and Sweden in Houston, Saturday, June 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

Lazaro Luya, the concession chef at Sol Cubano, displays their special, empanada mundial at Miami Stadium Sunday, June 21, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Fans attending the World Cup soccer game between Mexico and South Korea in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 18, 2026, buy food at a concession stand inside Guadalajara Stadium. (AP Photo/Tales Azzoni)

Lazaro Luya, the concession chef at Sol Cubano, displays their special, pan with lechon and fresh mariquitas at Miami Stadium Sunday, June 21, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian security forces detained hundreds of people, including foreigners, on the country’s border with Sudan, accusing them of illegal gold mining and smuggling, the military said Monday.

Egypt’s southern region is rich with gold mines and the government has launched big mining projects there including the Sukari megaproject.

The military statement said the detainees included 87 Egyptians and 136 other foreigners, without naming their countries. The operation included the seizure of “large amounts of equipment and devices used in illegal mining operations,” the military statement said.

The region borders Sudan, which is also rich with gold mines, and with the chaos of Sudan’s three-year war, much of the mining there is unregulated. More than 50% of gold mined in Sudan was smuggled out of the country, according to a U.N. Panel of Experts Report in 2024. Gold accounts for 70% of the country's revenue.

Video clips posted online showed hundreds of Sudanese people at a border crossing between Egypt and Sudan, with Sudanese media reporting they were miners detained and expelled by the Egyptian government.

Sudan’s top general, Abdel-Fattah Burhan, was in gold-rich northeastern Sudan on Monday. He said in a statement that the government “affirms our full appreciation and respect for our neighboring countries (to the north and east), and we call upon our citizens to not move towards the borders to incite any problems.”

He also added the the government was working to combat illegal smuggling and mining and would investigate.

Gold has been a central part of the war in Sudan between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces who have smuggled out thousands of tons of gold from the Darfur and Kordofan regions to fund themselves.

The Egyptian military said a number of suspected gold miners surrendered to Egyptian authorities who were later sent them back to their home country. It didn’t elaborate on the nationalities of those who were detained or expelled.

The Egyptian military also warned that “it retains all available options to deal with all threats.”

FILE - A pan containing gold-bearing sediment and heavy mineral concentrate sits at an artisanal mining site in Dalago Mahas, Sudan's Northern State,Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohnd Blal, File)