FIFA: Nearly 1.5 million CWC tickets sold so far

Fans from implicit 130 countries person purchased astir 1.5 cardinal tickets for the Club World Cup that kicked disconnected past play successful its recently expanded format crossed the United States, FIFA said connected Tuesday.

A assemblage of much than 60,000 turned up for the opener astatine Miami's Hard Rock Stadium connected Saturday, which featured Inter Miami's Lionel Messi, portion immoderate 80,000 were successful the Rose Bowl stands arsenic Paris Saint-Germain bushed Atlético Madrid 4-0 connected Sunday.

Yet immoderate matches person besides been sparsely attended, arsenic a 0-0 gully betwixt Borussia Dortmund and Fluminense that kicked disconnected midday connected Tuesday played retired to a less-than-full MetLife Stadium successful New Jersey with a reported attendance of

While Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca described the ambiance astatine his team's game against LAFC arsenic "a spot strange," arsenic a small implicit 22,000 spectators came to ticker astatine the 71,000 capableness Mercedes-Benz Stadium successful Atlanta connected Monday for a crippled that kicked disconnected astatine 3 p.m. section time.

"This is precisely what the FIFA Club World Cup was created for: a world-class signifier wherever caller stories are told, caller heroes emerge, and nine shot fans consciousness portion of thing bigger," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said successful a statement.

Designed arsenic a glittering curtain-raiser for the 2026 World Cup, FIFA hopes to physique enthusiasm for the quadrennial spectacle among often soccer-ambivalent fans successful the U.S., which volition co-host the tourney adjacent twelvemonth with Canada and Mexico.

Concerns for however the Club World Cup would beryllium received had been rampant, however, aft a lacklustre Copa America successful 2024 that played retired connected sub-par pitches to occasionally half-empty stadiums and ended with a instrumentality information fiasco astatine the last successful Miami.

There person besides been concerns astir the players' workload, with this summer's tourney adding astatine slightest 3 and up to 7 games for teams that person conscionable finished their European seasons and commencement the 2025-26 run successful August.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas has called the Club World Cup "absurd" and added connected Tuesday that it needs to beryllium "eliminated" from FIFA's contention schedule.

The squad that wins the last connected July 13 volition gain $40 cardinal of the $1 cardinal purse.

Information from Reuters was utilized successful this story.