World Cup 2026 Smashes All-Time Attendance Record

The FIFA World Cup 2026 has made history off the pitch as well as on it, becoming the best-attended tournament ever, according to Reuters. The landmark was passed during the second half of Germany's match against Ecuador in New Jersey, with the figure of 3,605,357 confirmed on stadium screens to huge applause from the crowd.

With 48 matches still remaining, the final attendance figure could come close to doubling the old record set in 1994, when the World Cup was also held in the United States but featured only 52 matches in total. Stadiums across all three host nations have been more than 99 per cent full on average throughout the group stage.

The expanded 48-team format has clearly drawn fans in extraordinary numbers, and the tournament is only at the halfway point of its schedule.