Over 40M spectators in nearly a century of World Cups

By Mutlu Demirtastan

ISTANBUL (AA) – In nearly a century of World Cup competitions, over 40.5 million people have watched matches played in 21 FIFA World Cup tournaments, with the 21st set to start on Nov. 20 in the Gulf nation of Qatar.

In the tournament’s history, a total of 40.53 million people have watched 900 World Cup matches, with an average of 45,036 spectators per match.

The 1994 World Cup, held in the US, was watched by nearly 3.59 million people, setting the record for the most World Cup spectators.

The 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy – only the second tournament, following its debut in 1930 – drew the smallest audience, with only around 363,000 spectators.

France in 1938 became the World Cup with the least number of spectators per match, with only 20,872.

The last World Cup, held in Russia in 2018, was watched by over 3 million people, with an average of 47,371 spectators per game.

- Maracana Stadium record

Maracana Stadium in Brazil, one of the oldest football stadiums in the world, has an important place in the history of the World Cup.

In the World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro in 1950, Brazil and Uruguay faced off in the stadium.

The epic final, which was watched by 173,850 ticketed fans, went down in history as the single match with the most spectators in the tournament.

Later, it was claimed that the number of fans who entered the stadium to watch the match topped 200,000.

In the same World Cup, 152,772 people watched the Brazil-Spain match and 142,429 spectators were present at the Brazil-Yugoslavia game.

These two matches placed second and third in the number of spectators after the Brazil-Uruguay game.

- The 21 World Cups and the number of spectators are as follows:

*Writing by Selcuk Bugra Gokalp