"That story went wild!" Andy Milne wasn't wrong. The 63-year-old Englishman, already at his 10th World Cup in the United States, went viral after reports claimed he'd sold his house to fund the trip. The truth is only slightly less dramatic — the house is on the market, not yet sold, and it's been a rental property for 13 years anyway.
Still, the principle stands. Milne has structured his finances around football travel in a way most fans only fantasise about. The former biology teacher took early retirement in 2022 specifically to attend Qatar, and the rental property he's now selling was always earmarked as a "pension pot." He's just decided the pension pays out in World Cup tickets instead.
How you become 'That World Cup Guy'
Milne is a member of the England Supporters Travel Club and still plays in a Thursday night adult league with friends — "not a great footballer, but a very, very passionate footballer," as he puts it. That energy comes through on camera, which is exactly how this started.
It was a replica FIFA gold trophy — nicknamed "Sophie the Trophy" — that kept catching the eye of broadcast cameras during England's early games, with Milne attached to it. Fans back home started piecing together old photos. "People in the UK would go, 'Here's that guy again!'" he said. "They started digging out pictures of me at previous tournaments. And the moniker 'That World Cup Guy' kind of stuck."
Eight men's World Cups. One women's. Now a tenth tournament in North America. He and his group have tickets for every possible England game, with intercity travel sorted by plane, train, hire car, and bus.
The book, the business, and the bigger picture
Milne isn't just a fan with a catchy nickname anymore. He published a travel memoir — fittingly titled That World Cup Guy — through Pitch Publishing on 25 May 2026, covering over 40 years of football fandom across the globe. "There's some football in there, but it's more of a travelogue," he says. He also runs Treasure Island Challenge, a real-life Survivor-style experience in Koh Tao, Thailand.
He supports Manchester United, his local side Northwich Victoria FC, and follows his nephew who plays for Weston-super-Mare AFC. The football runs deep in every direction.
Selling a house to watch England at a World Cup is the kind of commitment that sounds unhinged until you hear the full story. At which point it just sounds like Andy Milne.
