Kai Pfaffenbach-Reuters via Imagn Images
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The FIFA Club World Cup hit an embarrassing low point on Monday afternoon as the match between Chelsea FC and LAFC was played in front of a stadium that was less than 1/3 full.
While the opening match of the tournament between Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and Al Ahly pulled in over 60,000 fans at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, subsequent matches have been far more sparingly populated, with the early tournament nadir occurring at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday, with attendance for the game was reportedly being recorded as 22,137 in the 71,000 seat stadium.
Wow. 👀 pic.twitter.com/1REUAA4AhX
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) June 16, 2025
The attendance at the Chelsea-LAFC match is another setback for a tournament that was already struggling for legitimacy, with teams such as Liverpool, Barcelona, and Napoli — the champions of the English, Spanish, and Italian leagues this season — not participating in the tournament despite it being billed by FIFA as “the best against the best”.
“Bayern Munich’s 10-0 win against Auckland City was played yesterday in the much smaller 26,000-seater TQL stadium in Cincinnati and 21,152 attended this game. Paris Saint-Germain’s group game against Atletico Madrid brought in 80,619 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Sunday afternoon.”
“However, tens of thousands of seats were left available for the other two matches on Sunday, as Palmeiras against FC Porto attracted 46,275 in the 82,500 MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, before the Seattle Sounders defeat by Botafogo brought in a largely home crowd of 30,151 at Lumen Field, which holds 68,740.” [via The Athletic]
Mercedes-Benz Stadium seconds before kick-off. No hiding this is not a great look for the tournament. pic.twitter.com/3bGfkc6MEX
— James Olley (@JamesOlley) June 16, 2025
Chelsea v LAFC kicks off in 8 minutes and the stadium is pretty much empty….. pic.twitter.com/5lZinvTDYd
— Japtej Ghura (@japtejghura) June 16, 2025
As the sparse turnout for the Chelsea versus LAFC match unfolded, The Athletic reported that FIFA spent over $50 million on marketing the tournament, including spending millions on advertisements in the past few months alone.
“FIFA’s marketing spend appears to have focused heavily on social media, ploughing money into promoting posts with a significant number of influencers on Instagram. This has included engaging a baseball reporter to explain soccer to Americans and asking an invention influencer to talk about the competition, as well as cooking influencers to connect with the casual sports fan. FIFA has also spent significantly on highway advertising boards in several cities.”
The following 32 teams are playing in the 2025 World Cup: Al Ahly, Al Ain, Al Hilal, Atletico Madrid, Auckland City FC, Borussia Dortmund, Botafago, Boca Juniors, River Plate, Monterrey, Pachuca, Flamengo, Chelsea, Esperance de Tunisie, Bayern Munich, Intr Milan, Salzburg, Fluminense, Inter Miami, Juventus, LAFC, Mamelodi Sundowns, Manchester City, Palmeiras, PSG, Real Madrid, Benfica, Seattle Sounders, Ulsan, Urawa Red Diamonds, and Wydad.