World Cup Faces Controversy Over "Inflated Attendance Figures" After "Overpriced Tickets" Dispute

Many Empty Seats Spotted During South Korea-Czech Republic Match
FIFA Explains: "Spectators Were Standing in the Aisles"

As soon as the 2026 FIFA North and Central American World Cup kicked off, controversy erupted over the counting of attendance figures, prompting FIFA to directly clarify the issue.

The controversy arose after the first Group A match between South Korea and the Czech Republic, held on June 12 (KST) at the Guadalajara Stadium in Mexico. FIFA announced that the attendance for the match was 44,985. Considering the stadium's capacity is about 46,000 seats, this figure suggests the venue was nearly full.

However, the broadcast footage and on-site photos showed a considerable number of empty seats, leading to suspicions that the attendance figure had been inflated compared to the actual number of spectators.

FIFA, however, maintains that there are no issues with the announced attendance figures to date. On June 13, FIFA released an official statement saying, "The official attendance is not a visual assessment of seat occupancy at a specific moment during the match," and added, "It is calculated based on the number of scanned tickets and the actual number of spectators who entered the stadium."

The South Korean national soccer team is taking a commemorative photo after their victory against the Czech Republic in the first match of Group A at the 2026 North and Central American World Cup, held on the 11th (local time) at the Zapopan Guadalajara Stadium in Mexico. Photo by Yonhap News.

FIFA further explained, "FIFA works closely with stadium operations authorities and ticket sales departments to ensure all figures are released based on verified operational data."

Additionally, FIFA released photos showing the inside of the stadium nearly full, emphasizing that some fans stayed in aisles or other areas instead of their designated seats. FIFA stated, "At the Guadalajara match, some spectators were confirmed to be standing in the aisles rather than sitting in their assigned seats throughout the game," arguing that the number of empty seats does not directly represent the actual number of attendees.

Apart from the South Korea-Czech Republic match, FIFA's reported attendance figures include 80,824 spectators for the opening match between Mexico and South Africa, and 43,002 for the match between Canada and Bosnia.

Some have criticized FIFA’s high-priced ticket policy, which was a subject of controversy even before the tournament began, arguing that it has negatively affected the tournament's popularity. FIFA adopted a dynamic pricing policy where prices fluctuate according to demand, but has faced criticism for setting ticket prices excessively high for certain matches.

As a result, football fans have expressed strong dissatisfaction, saying that online booking wait times were not clearly communicated and that, after a long wait, ticket prices had soared far beyond the initial announcements. In fact, political circles in New York and New Jersey have launched an official investigation into allegations that FIFA inflated ticket prices and confused fans.

FIFA did reduce ticket prices for some matches ahead of the tournament, and it is known that a significant number of tickets remained unsold until just before the event began.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.