Club World Cup attendances: Highest, lowest, tournament average

The 2025 Club World Cup is now complete, and after a month of summer club football, nobody is quite sure whether the tournament can be considered a success or not.

Throughout the tournament, FIFA's new tournament attracted its fair share of headlines worldwide, but not always for positive reasons. A constant talking point throughout was the Club World Cup attendances, with several matches played in front of practically empty host stadiums.

These matches seemingly spooked FIFA, too, as the governing body made the decision partway through the tournament to slash ticket prices for certain matches, including the semi-final between Chelsea and Fluminense.

Now the tournament is finished, it's time to look at whether the attendances were as low as pre-tournament predictions suggested, or if FIFA's ticket-slashing exercises paid off.

Club World Cup attendances: Group stage

Club World Cup average attendances: How full were the stadiums during the group stage?

The attendance at the Club World Cup during the group stage was largely poor. While the tournament started strongly with 61,000 fans in attendance at the Hard Rock Stadium for Inter Miami vs Al Ahly, there were plenty of alarming attendance figures.

Across the 48 games played during the group stage, only 25 of them were played at a stadium which was more than 50% full. The stadium that was left the emptiest was the Inter & Co Stadium for the match between Ulsan vs Mamelodi Sundowns, where the stadium was only at 13% of its capacity.

Another notable conclusion we can draw from the group stage attendances is that Inter Miami and Lionel Messi have had a positive impact on the interest in football in South Florida. The Hard Rock Stadium was consistently close to capacity throughout the tournament, with the only exception being the match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Fluminense on 25 June.

The same can't be said for all parts of the country, though, suggesting that Messi has more work to do if he is to truly make the USA fall in love with ‘soccer'. The Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta struggled throughout the group stages, with the highest attendance being 40,392, which watched Man City dismantle Al Ain.

During the group stage of the Club World Cup, each stadium was, on average, 54% full.

Club World Cup attendances: Knockout stage

Round of 16

The knockout stage of the Club World Cup began on Saturday, 28 June, and many people expected attendances to pick up. However, during the Round of 16, this wasn't really the case, with just four of the eight matches attracting a capacity of more than 50%.

The match between Inter Milan and Fluminense at the Bank of America Stadium was the worst-attended Round of 16, pulling in a crowd of just 27% of the stadium's capacity.

On the flip side, the aforementioned Inter Miami effect continued in the first knockout round. Lionel Messi and co proved that there is interest in football in Atlanta after all, with 65,574 fans turning out to watch David Beckham's franchise take on PSG.

The Hard Rock Stadium also continued to be a shining light for the tournament. A total of 62,149 fans turned out to watch Real Madrid take on Juventus in the first knockout round, although this was one of the most attractive Round of 16 matches on paper.

Quarter-finals

Things certainly went up a notch for the quarter-finals, with three of the four ties being played in front of near-full stadiums. The only exception was the match between Al-Hilal and Fluminense at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando. However, even that match brought in a crowd of 43,091 – 66% of the stadium's overall capacity.

Semi-finals

Both semi-finals were played at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and given that attendances here had previously been on the low side, FIFA were concerned. As a result, they slashed prices to as low as £11 for the match between Fluminense and Chelsea on 4 July. This did the trick, as an attendance of 65,782 was registered.

For the other semi-final, FIFA didn't have to worry due to the magnitude of the fixture – PSG vs Real Madrid. Tickets were relatively hard to come by for this one, and the overall attendance was 77,542.

Final

The final of the Club World Cup was played on Sunday, 13 July in front of 81,118 fans at MetLife Stadium. Tickets were slightly reduced in the days leading up to the final, as thousands of tickets were still unsold, but that seemed to do the trick, as a near-capacity crowd turned out in New Jersey to watch Chelsea become the new World Champions.

Lowest Club World Cup attendance

The lowest attendance at the Club World Cup was for the match between Ulsan and Mamelodi Sundowns at the Inter & Co Stadium. In total, 3,412 fans turned up for the match in Orlando. The lowest attendances at the tournament were consistently from matches involving non-European and non-South American teams.

Highest Club World Cup attendance

The highest attendance at the Club World Cup was unsurprisingly for the final between PSG and Chelsea at MetLife Stadium. Coming in second place was the group stage match between PSG and Atletico Madrid at the Rose Bowl in California. It was a sight to behold as more than 80,000 fans turned out to watch the Champions League winners in action.