The American-hosted World Cup has already set a new record, with over 3.6 million fans in attendance.
With Thursday’s match between Ecuador and Germany, which boasted over 80,663 spectators at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, the total crowd in attendance for the 2026 World Cup rose to “3,605,357, setting a new all-time record,” per Yahoo Sports.
The previous attendance record of 3,587,538 was also set in the United States during the 1994 World Cup. But with the 2026 tournament not yet in the Round of 32, the new record will continue to increase and set a figure that might never again be reached. To this point, the 2026 tournament includes the highest stadium-occupancy rate at 99.7%
Thursday’s matches also set a single-day attendance record with 384,206 fans watching across venues in Philadelphia; Kansas City, Missouri.; Arlington, Texas; Santa Clara, California; and Inglewood, California.
It should, however, be noted that the 1994 World Cup featured just 24 teams playing 52 games total, while 2026 features 48 teams with 56 games so far. Stadiums in the past 30 years have also increased their seating capacities.
“For instance, though Lusail Stadium in Qatar had a listed seating capacity of 88,000 and packed in 88,966 spectators for the 2022 World Cup final, six of the eight venues for the tournament had capacities of 40,000,” noted Yahoo Sports.