Photos show how the FIFA Club World Cup is playing to half-empty stadiums

From June 14 to July 13, some of the best soccer teams in the world will be playing each other across the US in the 21st FIFA Club World Cup.

If you’re thinking, “Wait, isn’t the World Cup in 2026? What’s the Club World Cup?” you’re right to be confused.

The FIFA Men’s World Cup is in 2026 and will be played in stadiums across the US, Mexico, and Canada by teams representing entire nations, similar to the Olympics.

The Club World Cup, revamped this year to compete with other popular tournaments like the typical World Cup, the Champions League, and the Euros, features clubs from across the world instead of countries. It’d be like if the Dodgers played the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Unfortunately for these world-class players, some of the stadiums for the first round of the tournament have been less than packed.

The BBC reported that during the opening round of the tournament, there were 979,373 available seats across the first 16 games. Of those, 556,369 were filled, leaving 423,004 seats empty.

The Guardian puts average attendance at 43% capacity. One first-round game was filled to just 13.6% capacity.

The Ringer said there’s been “no tangible momentum or excitement” for the tournament, held just a year before the better-known World Cup. Some of the teams don’t have huge fan bases outside of their local markets, since they don’t typically play on a world stage.

Other potential reasons for low attendance could include the time of the games — many have been held in the middle of the workday — and soaring temperatures.

Ticket prices don’t appear to be the problem. Late Friday, June 20, tickets were available in almost every section for the June 21 game at MetLife Stadium. Prices start at $31.79, with tickets in the seventh row from $66. The Athletic reported before the 2025 competition kicked off that students were being offered a five-for-$20 deal for games — essentially $4 a ticket.

That’s not to say all the games have been poorly attended. The most-attended game of the first round, per Inside FIFA, was the June 15 match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Atlético Madrid at the Rose Bowl, with 80,619 people in attendance. (That left almost 10,000 empty seats.)

FIFA has not responded to a request for comment from Business Insider regarding the low attendance thus far.

Here are 16 photos showing how the stands have looked during the first stage of the Club World Cup.

At the first match, held at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on June 14 between Egypt’s Al-Ahly and Inter Miami FC, there were plenty of empty seats.

The next day, Brazil’s SE Palmeiras played Portugal’s FC Porto at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The lower stands were full, but the seats up top were almost empty.

Across the country in Seattle, things were not faring much better at the Seattle Sounders match against Botafogo of Brazil.

This photo of Chelsea fans at the June 16 match against Los Angeles FC in Atlanta looks like the “Ted Lasso” intro.

Here’s a wider view of the game, showing some filled seats but lots of empty ones.

The stadium holds 70,000 people. Attendance was 22,137.

Source: The New York Times

On June 17, Fluminense FC (Brazil) and Borussia Dortmund (Germany) faced off at a half-empty MetLife Stadium.

MetLife can seat 82,500 people. The game had 34,736 fans in attendance.

Source: amNY

West Coast games weren’t faring any better. We feel for this lone fan at the Monterrey/Inter Milan game at the Rose Bowl on June 17.

Per the BBC, the lowest-attended match, though, was on June 17 in Orlando’s Inter & Co. Stadium.

Source: BBC

In the stands were 3,412 fans, who were there to watch South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns FC play South Korea’s Ulsan HD.

Source: BBC

That’s 13.6% of the stands’ capacity.

Source: BBC

On June 18, sections were empty at the match between Manchester City FC and Wydad AC, a Moroccan team, at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

Down the coast, many seats were available at a match between Real Madrid CF and Al-Hilal Saudi FC at Hard Rock Stadium.

There were 5,282 fans at this game between CF Pachuca (Mexico) and FC Salzburg (Austria) in Cincinnati. That’s 20% capacity.

Source: BBC

Not even Lionel Messi was a big enough draw to pack the stands at Inter Miami’s match against FC Porto in Atlanta.

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