Thousands of empty seats at the World Cup match, but almost sold-out was announced » How does FIFA explain?
Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Saturday, June 13, 2026, 10:35 / Updated Saturday, June 13, 2026 10:36
FIFA announced 44,985 spectators at South Korea – Czech Republic 2-1the second match of the World Championship, but on the broadcast it was seen that a lot of seats remained free, which raised suspicions about the official assists declared by the forum that organizes the competition.
South Korea – Czech Republic, the second match of this edition of the planetary tournament, was played at Estadio Akron in Zapopan, Guadalajara metropolitan area.
Apparently thousands of empty seats at South Korea – Czech Republic, but FIFA announced almost sold-out
FIFA announced an attendance of 44,985 for that match, given the stadium's capacity is 45,664. In other words, only 679 seats remain free.
However, the data reported by FIFA does not match what the viewers saw. It was clear on the broadcast that many more seats remained empty, both in the stands and on the lawns.
Suspicions arose in the public space regarding the statistics declared by FIFA, so the organizing forum tried to come up with an explanation.
How to “remove” FIFA
“Official attendance statistics reflect the number of tickets scanned and spectators present on the perimeter of the stadium, not visual assessments of seat occupancy at any given time during the match.
FIFA works closely with stadium authorities and ticketing teams to ensure that all published figures are based on verified operational data.
Please note that during the match in Guadalajara, several ticket-holding fans could be seen standing in the access areas and corridorsinstead of remaining in their assigned seats during the match,” FIFA's media department said.
The microbists did not support the FIFA version. Here are some of the lines with the most likes:
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“Surely those 'few ticket holders' in the aisles explain the thousands of empty seats…”
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“Hahaha, do you need to explain the assists? Admit that you priced too high”
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“Admit for once that you've priced too high and people aren't buying”
What happened at the Guadalajara match fueled fears that because of FIFA's exorbitant prices, games without an impressive poster will be played with hundreds, if not thousands, of empty seats.
According to The Telegraph, tickets in the empty sections cost between $400 and $5,000!
