By Samindra Kunti in Moscow
July 2 – Football’s governing body FIFA reported that 2,178,894 fans attended the 48 matches of the World Cup group stages in Russia, averaging a stadium occupancy rate of 98%.
Ahead of the tournament, there had been concerns that plenty of games would have a lot of empty seats but those fears were dismissed as locals and foreign visitors alike flocked to all 12 stadia in the 11 host cities to watch the dramatic group stages unfold. The average match attendance was 45,394 during the first round.
The United States topped the list international countries in terms of ticket allocation with 97,439 ahead of Brazil on 74,803 and Germany 71,687. The defending world champions exited the tournament after a lamentable 2-0 loss against South Korea in their final group game.
Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and Peru were the next countries in the top ten list. In eighth spot Chinese fans snapped up 42,968 tickets. England closed the top ten with a meagre 34,235.
In total FIFA has allocated 2,608,527 tickets so far to fans around the world since ticket sales got underway in September 2017. On Tuesday the round of 16 will conclude in Russia as the tournament reaches its business end. The World Cup will culminate on July 15 with the final at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
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