I thought the World Cup was a sell-out?

In the 3 World Cup 2022 matches before USA-Wales, the official attendances have been 67,372 (in a stadium with capacity of 60,000); 45,334 (in a stadium holding 40,000) and 41,721 (in a stadium holding 40,000).

Amazing, not least given all the empty seats.

Comical Ali stuff.
 
Sea of empty seats at Camerron v Switzerland I see
I'm kind of hopeful that the empty seats have been bought by speculators/touts thinking that they could move them on to fans who had made the trip and would pay over the odds to "see a world cup game". It might explain the empty seats?
 
I'm kind of hopeful that the empty seats have been bought by speculators/touts thinking that they could move them on to fans who had made the trip and would pay over the odds to "see a world cup game". It might explain the empty seats?
That happened at Ayresome Park in 1966. They couldn't offload them at half price.
 
A tangent, but there were loads of empty seats at the 1996 Euros as well. There just wasn't the interest for the games away from Wembley, as the ticket prices were too high.

s-l300.jpg

Equivalent of £99 (today's money) for Bulgaria v Romania. There were cheaper tickets but they still weren't cheap. For example, £25 to sit in the newly-seated Kop. That's £45 in today's money.

Romania 0–1 France
St James' Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 26,323

Bulgaria 1–0 Romania
St James' Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 19,107

France 3–1 Bulgaria
St James' Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 26,976

Germany 2–0 Czech Republic
Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance: 37,300

Russia 3–3 Czech Republic
Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance: 21,128
 
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A tangent, but there were loads of empty seats at the 1996 Euros as well. There just wasn't the interest for the games away from Wembley, as the ticket prices were too high.

s-l300.jpg

Equivalent of £99 (today's money) for Bulgaria v Romania. There were cheaper tickets but they still weren't cheap. For example, £25 to sit in the newly-seated Kop. That's £45 in today's money.

Romania 0–1 France
St James' Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 26,323

Bulgaria 1–0 Romania
St James' Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 19,107

France 3–1 Bulgaria
St James' Park, Newcastle
Attendance: 26,976

Germany 2–0 Czech Republic
Old Trafford, Manchester
Attendance: 37,300

Russia 3–3 Czech Republic
Anfield, Liverpool
Attendance: 21,128
Yes I remember that. And another problem was that if people bought several tickets for the group stage, they could then jump the queue for the second round and then if you had a ticket for the second round you did the same for the next and so on. This meant loads of tickets were bought that people didn't really want.

But still it was "the best organised tournament ever"!!!
 
I'm kind of hopeful that the empty seats have been bought by speculators/touts thinking that they could move them on to fans who had made the trip and would pay over the odds to "see a world cup game". It might explain the empty seats?
I suspect as said earlier probably bought by rich locals who couldn't be arsed to go. They look the premium seats that are empty.

Mate tells me there are loads of migrant workers outside the stadia doing nothing and they could have been drafted in to fill the seats but of course they wouldn't even think of that with their culture
 
how hard is it to bus people in to fill up the stadiums.. especially when they are like 40,000 capacity!!
 
how hard is it to bus people in to fill up the stadiums.. especially when they are like 40,000 capacity!!
If the tickets have been sold, what happens when someone turns up a bit late and you've let in a bus loads of seat fillers?
 
If the tickets have been sold, what happens when someone turns up a bit late and you've let in a bus loads of seat fillers?
I mean the punishments for stuff seem pretty harsh over there.. being late and losing your seat seems quite mild tbh
 
Also sponsors get lots of tickets and often don't use them. You often see empty seats in the best areas in all major sporting events because often just sit on them. (I could have put that better).
At this world cup some of these are being recycled gor fans and thus boosting official capacities.
 
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