The truly dedicated football fan could spend a small fortune this summer. If an England fan were to fly there before the first game of the Euros, watch every England game and then fly back after the final, they would have to part with £8,000.

Even if you stay at home, the cost of supporting them quickly adds up once you’ve gone to the pub a few times and bought yourself everything from a jersey to a set of flags for your car. For many fans, being able to support their team is worth every penny – no matter what it costs. But before you whip out your card and rack up the cost, it’s worth knowing what your money could be doing elsewhere.

If you watch football in a pub every Saturday and buy two pints (which cost an average of £5.17), you’ll spend £44.81 a month. If you put that amount into a savings account every month and paid 6% interest, you could save a total of £555 in a year.

If you make a long-term commitment to investing that amount every month for 10 years and earning 5% per year, you could end up with £7,316. ​​You could spend the money on a trip to support the team in a tournament abroad, or on buying a used car.

If you watch via a sports TV subscription instead, costs vary from £34.99 to £72 per month. If you go all out, you’d spend £864 per year, which could net you £11,159 over 10 years if you invest monthly.

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To pay the full price of the Euros every four years, assuming you save regularly for your travel costs, you would need to put away £167 a month. If you invest every month, that amount could rise to £25,932 in 10 years. That’s enough for a 10% deposit on an average first-time buyer property worth £235,851, and still have some left over to cover the cost of a move.

If you were to watch your team live every week, the costs would really mount up. Assuming you had a season ticket, travelled to all the away games and didn’t take a packed lunch, you could easily spend £4,000 a year, or £333 a month – spread over 12 months.

If you invest monthly for 10 years, you could build a nest egg of £51,709. That’s a life-changing sum that could make any football fan think twice about how much they spend.

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There are many people who say that watching football means so much to them that the cost is irrelevant. For them, the savings are nothing compared to the joy that football brings them every week.

However, if you’re less committed and are only coming along for friends or family, this is a good reason to reconsider whether it’s worth the time and money. You could save significantly by skipping it and get a large chunk of your weekend back to boot.

The story continues

Watch: Dan Kilpatrick and Malik Ouzia before the England vs Denmark match

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