Published on 6/13/2026
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Last update: 09:44 (Mecca time)
On Friday, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) attributed the reason for the presence of vacant seats during the World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic in the Mexican city of Guadalajara to an unusual reason, which is the fans’ preference to follow the match from the corridors and open spaces inside the stadium.
It was noted that there were many empty seats in the Guadalajara Stadium, which has a capacity of 45,664 spectators, and large unoccupied spaces appeared in the central sections of the stands, in addition to vacant seats scattered throughout the stadium.
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The announced number of attendees reached 44,985 people, including FIFA President Gianni Infantino himself.
FIFA explained that “official attendance figures reflect the number of tickets scanned and the number of spectators present inside the stadium, and not visual estimates of seat occupancy rates at any specific moment during the match.”
He added that he is working closely with stadium officials and ticket teams to ensure that all published figures are based on documented operational data.
FIFA’s statements, reported by the Associated Press, noted that a number of fans holding tickets were seen during the match in Guadalajara and “standing in the aisles instead of remaining in their designated seats throughout the match.”
An explanation that did not convince everyone
However, FIFA’s clarification did not seem to convince several parties who believe that tournament organizers tend to announce the number of tickets sold rather than the number of actual attendees, and that major tournament matches, such as the World Cup, are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon, given the high percentage of tickets allocated to sponsoring companies.
According to this analysis, the heavy concentration of empty seats around the halfway line in Guadalajara Stadium may be partly due to the non-attendance of ticket holders of the sponsoring companies, for which seats in that area of the stadium were allocated, to attend the match, and not according to what the International Federation stated.
During the Canadian national team’s first match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto, on Friday, there were also some vacant seats, especially near the field in the lower stands, and in a high corner of the temporary stands.
On the other hand, the capacity of stadiums during the World Cup is less than its maximum capacity for operational reasons and others to meet the requirements of the International Federation.
Many of the 2026 World Cup stadiums were not originally designed specifically for football, and therefore the dimensions of their stadiums are smaller than the required standards.
For example, SoFi Stadium (or Los Angeles Stadium as it is known during the World Cup) was originally built to fit the standards of American football, a sport that requires narrower field dimensions than soccer.
To host the World Cup matches, it required major structural modifications around the stadium, including removing some parts of the stands.
Therefore, SOFI Stadium, which witnessed an average crowd of 73,325 spectators at Los Angeles Rams football matches last season, operates with a capacity of 70,492 spectators during the World Cup.
The capacity is also affected by administrative changes at the stadium, including providing additional space for billboards and international media coverage.
The truth about the numbers
According to The Athletic, some clubs and tournament organizers choose to announce actual attendance numbers, while others prefer to publish the number of tickets sold.
In the case of the match between South Korea and the Czech Republic, if a fan or ticket broker, thousands of miles away from Guadalajara, buys a match ticket and does not attend for any reason, FIFA may decide to count him in the attendance list.
Last January, FIFA announced that it had received more than 500 million requests to purchase tickets, and shortly thereafter, Infantino stated that “tickets for all matches have been completely sold,” a claim that FIFA quickly retracted.
According to “The Athletic,” the International Federation held tickets for the most sought-after matches, which created the impression of a scarcity of tickets. However, this scarcity will be real in some matches.
For example, the opening match of the World Cup between Mexico and South Africa was held amid full stands at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, and the prevailing atmosphere in the city and stadium indicates that it would have been possible to attract twice the number of attendees if the necessary capacity had been available.
On the other hand, other matches, such as the confrontation between South Korea and the Czech Republic, do not receive a similar level of anticipation and public interest.
According to the “The Athletic” report, by last Sunday evening, there were offers to sell about 10,000 tickets for the US national team’s opening match against Paraguay, which was held on Friday, through various ticket resale sites.
