A crowd of 80,663 fills MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for the Group L match between England and Panama at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 27 (local time). [AFP]
A crowd of 80,663 fills MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, for the Group L match between England and Panama at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on June 27 (local time). [AFP]

Attendance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America has surpassed 4.6 million, setting a new all-time record for the tournament.

According to FIFA, a total of 4,644,549 fans attended the 72 matches played across the group stage over 17 days, as of Monday (local time).

Matches have been held in 16 cities, drawing spectators from 210 countries.

The previous record was 3,587,538, set at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. That mark fell on June 25, when cumulative attendance reached 3,605,357, and the tally has continued to climb since.

The highest single-day attendance was 426,834.

The best-attended individual match was the Group A finale between Mexico and South Africa on June 24, which drew 80,824 fans.

FIFA Fan Festivals have attracted more than 5 million visitors, including more than 200,000 people who gathered at the festival in Mexico City on June 18.

This tournament expanded the group stage to 48 teams — 12 more than the 2022 Qatar World Cup. A total of 1,248 players were registered, of whom 999 took the field.

Fans consumed more than 300,000 hot dogs at the venues. Laid end to end, those hot dogs would stretch 45 kilometers — roughly the distance from John F. Kennedy International Airport to MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.


ygmoon@heraldcorp.com