FIFA issues awkward statement after photos show empty seats at World Cup’s second match
The 2026 FIFA World Cup started on June 11 with Mexico beating South Africa 2-0 at the Azteca Stadium, followed by South Korea’s win over Czechia. However, many fans noticed quite a few empty seats during the games and shared their thoughts online.
Officially, the attendance for the South Korea vs. Czechia match was announced as 44,985 in a stadium that holds 45,664 people. But watching on TV, it seemed like there were more empty seats than the roughly 700 reported.
FIFA has now explained this in a statement. They said that the official attendance counts the number of tickets scanned and people inside the stadium, not just the seats filled at any moment. They also mentioned that some fans were standing in walkways instead of sitting in their assigned seats during the match.
Fans have been worried about empty seats, especially since ticket prices were a hot topic. Some tickets, even for less popular group games, were selling for over $300, which made it hard for many supporters to afford attending. Despite this, FIFA says interest in buying tickets has been huge—about ten times higher than past World Cups.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino shared back in April: “We had 500 million ticket requests—that’s ten times more than the last two World Cups combined.”
After pictures of empty seats went viral from the second World Cup game, fans took to social media to share their opinions.
One fan said, “Why don’t prices come down if there are so many empty seats @FIFAWorldCup? This is embarrassing. They could’ve sold seats for reasonable prices so real fans could go!”
Another added, “With tickets in these areas costing between $400 and $5,000, the empty rows send a clear message against FIFA’s pricing model, showing many fans are being priced out of the games.”
Still, some fans feel that even if the empty seats don’t look great, FIFA probably doesn’t mind as long as they make money.
One commented, “To be embarrassed, you need to have some shame. FIFA doesn’t seem to have that.”
Another joked, “FIFA doesn’t get embarrassed! But they really hate losing money.”