The FIFA World Cup 2026 set new records for stadium attendance and television audiences, becoming the biggest tournament in the competition’s history following its expansion to 48 teams.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the event performed beyond expectations, noting that global television viewership surpassed previous records by a significant margin.
The new format included 16 more teams than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and featured a total of 104 matches hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Before the third-place match and final, FIFA had already confirmed that more than 6.6 million supporters had attended games inside stadiums. Following Spain’s victory over Argentina in the final, media reports estimated that overall attendance reached approximately 6.81 million spectators.
This figure was far higher than the previous World Cup attendance record of 3,587,538, which was set when the United States hosted the tournament in 1994. According to FIFA, stadiums maintained an impressive average capacity of 99.7 percent throughout the competition, despite complaints from some fans about expensive ticket prices. The average crowd size was reported at 65,351 spectators per match.
The tournament also generated strong commercial results. FIFA had forecast revenues of more than seven billion euros for the 2026 edition, representing a 56 percent increase compared with the Qatar World Cup.
Broadcasting revenue was expected to rise by around 34 percent to nearly $4 billion, while sponsorship income was projected to increase by 21 percent.FIFA also recorded major online engagement, reporting that billions of people had interacted with World Cup-related content by the end of the round of 16.
Following the success of the expanded tournament, Infantino confirmed that discussions had taken place about increasing the competition to 64 teams for the centenary World Cup in 2030.
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