FIFA World Cup 2026: 4,644,549 people attended matches during group stage, filling extraordinary 99.7% of available seats

ZURICH, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 30th Jun, 2026) FIFA announced that a total of 4,644,549 people attended matches during the group stage, filling an extraordinary 99.7% of available seats and creating an average crowd of 64,508 per match.

Fans from 210 countries and territories attended the group stage of the FIFA World Cup 2026, surpassing the all-time attendance record of 3.5 million set at the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA. FIFA also recorded its highest-ever single-day tournament attendance on 25 June, with 426,834 spectators.

So far, the FIFA World Cup has had more than 80,000 people in attendance on a single match on eight occasions.

During the group stage, more than 5.5 million fans gathered at FIFA Fan Festivals across the three host countries, consuming almost 2 million units of soft drinks and water and over 2 million alcoholic beverages. A record 527,402 people attended on 24 June, and Mexico City's FIFA Fan Festival™ saw its highest single-day attendance of 201,500 on 18 June.

Kansas City's FIFA Fan Festival attracted people from 157 different countries.

With more than 50 million viewers tuning in across Canada, Mexico and the United States, the opening FIFA World Cup 2026 matches featuring the three host nations highlighted the tournament's ability to unite and inspire audiences across North America.

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A total of 7.2 million viewers tuned into the Mexico vs South Africa opening match on Fox. This is the most-watched FIFA Men’s World Cup opening match ever broadcast in English in the US.

Meanwhile, 10 million viewers watched Brazil vs Morocco on Fox, setting a new record. It was the most-watched non-USMNT FIFA Men’s World Cup group stage broadcast in the history of English-language US television (a record that was broken twice during the tournament).

Canada's historic first FIFA World Cup victory attracted an average audience of 5.3 million, making it the country's most-watched group-stage match ever and the highest-rated national team broadcast.

Brazil recorded the highest-rated television broadcast of 2026, with an average of 28.9 million viewers watching Brazil vs Morocco. Meanwhile, Globo reached 49.9 million unique individuals across its platforms for the same match.

In China, the 2026 FIFA World Cup has already reached 205 million unique viewers on CCTV channels after 41 games. The live match with the highest number of unique viewers so far was Tunisia v Japan, which was broadcast on CCTV5 this weekend and reached 24 million viewers.