[Saba Sports News] According to British media reports, FIFA has released attendance figures for the first 36 World Cup matches held across the United States, Mexico and Canada. The statistics were published after the fixture between Tunisia and Japan, which marked the 1,000th match in World Cup history. Although the tournament is still in the group stage, the figures are highly encouraging. Statistics show that more than 2 million spectators have attended matches in person since the competition kicked off on June 11, with an exact total of 2,307,947 attendees.
This translates to an average of 64,110 fans per stadium over the first 11 days of play. Data provided by FIFA reveals that stadium capacity stands at nearly 100%, with an occupancy rate of 99.54%. The numbers demonstrate an immense level of public interest in the World Cup across all three host nations.
The editor believes that such high turnout was predictable especially in Mexico, as they are competing on home soil. However, football is not a mainstream sport in the United States and Canada, making these record attendance figures all the more remarkable.