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Over 40M spectators in nearly a century of World Cups

ISTANBUL

In nearly a century of World Cup competitions, over 40.5 million people have watched matches played in 21 FIFA World Cup tournaments, with the 21st set to start on Nov. 20 in the Gulf nation of Qatar.

In the tournament’s history, a total of 40.53 million people have watched 900 World Cup matches, with an average of 45,036 spectators per match.

The 1994 World Cup, held in the US, was watched by nearly 3.59 million people, setting the record for the most World Cup spectators.

The 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy – only the second tournament, following its debut in 1930 – drew the smallest audience, with only around 363,000 spectators.

France in 1938 became the World Cup with the least number of spectators per match, with only 20,872.

The last World Cup, held in Russia in 2018, was watched by over 3 million people, with an average of 47,371 spectators per game.

Maracana Stadium record

Maracana Stadium in Brazil, one of the oldest football stadiums in the world, has an important place in the history of the World Cup.

In the World Cup final in Rio de Janeiro in 1950, Brazil and Uruguay faced off in the stadium.

The epic final, which was watched by 173,850 ticketed fans, went down in history as the single match with the most spectators in the tournament.

Later, it was claimed that the number of fans who entered the stadium to watch the match topped 200,000.

In the same World Cup, 152,772 people watched the Brazil-Spain match and 142,429 spectators were present at the Brazil-Yugoslavia game.

These two matches placed second and third in the number of spectators after the Brazil-Uruguay game.

The 21 World Cups and the number of spectators are as follows:

World Cup Matches Spectators Average per game
1930 Uruguay 18 590,549 32,808
1934 Italy 17 363,000 21,353
1938 France 18 375,700 20,872
1950 Brazil 22 1,045,246 47,511
1954 Switzerland 26 768,607 29,562
1958 Sweden 35 819,810 23,423
1962 Chile 32 893,172 27,912
1966 England 32 1,563,135 48,848
1970 Mexico 32 1,603,975 50,124
1974 West Germany 38 1,865,753 49,099
1978 Argentina 38 1,545,791 40,679
1982 Spain 52 2,109,723 40,572
1986 Mexico 52 2,394,031 46,039
1990 Italy 52 2,516,215 48,389
1994 US 52 3,587,538 68,991
1998 France 64 2,785,100 43,517
2002 S.Korea-Japan 64 2,705,197 42,269
2006 Germany 64 3,359,439 52,491
2010 South Africa 64 3,178,856 49,670
2014 Brazil 64 3,429,876 53,592
2018 Russia 64 3,031,768 47,371
TOTAL 900 40,532,478 45,036
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