281,000 spectators per day: historic attendance record set at 2026 World Cup
The International Federation of Football (FIFA) announced on its Instagram page (owned by Meta, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia) a record attendance on June 16.
According to the organization, 281,000 spectators attended World Cup matches in North America that day — the best single-day result in the history of the World Cup.
The record was set on the sixth day of the tournament, when group stage matches were held in several U.S. cities. Among them were the match between Argentina and Algeria (3:0) in Kansas City, as well as matches between Norway and Iraq (4:1) in Foxboro, France and Senegal (3:1) in East Rutherford, and Austria and Jordan in Kansas City (3:1).
FIFA called the record attendance "confirmation that football unites the world" and thanked fans for the "color, atmosphere and emotions."
On June 16, FIFA reported that total attendance over the first five days of the tournament (June 11 to 15) exceeded 1 million spectators. Thus, the current record for total attendance (3.59 million spectators at the 1994 tournament in the United States) could be broken soon.
The World Cup is being held for the first time with 48 national teams on the territory of three countries — the United States, Canada and Mexico. The tournament will conclude on July 19.
