Chelsea kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a 2–0 win against Los Angeles FC late last night Bangladesh time. But beyond the victory, the biggest talking point after the match was the huge number of empty seats. Out of 71,000 seats at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, only 22,137 were filled for Chelsea’s win.
That means nearly 50,000 seats remained empty. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a case of two foreign teams playing—Los Angeles FC is a US-based team, yet they still couldn’t draw a big crowd.
Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca spoke about the strange experience of playing in a nearly empty stadium after the match: “I think the atmosphere was a bit strange. The stadium was almost empty. We are professionals and have to adapt to our environment and situation. Whether the stadium is full or empty, we have to adjust. It’s not a big deal.”
According to BBC sources, FIFA had expected around 26,000 spectators to attend. But only a small middle-tier gallery was full, while more than half the seats in the larger lower gallery were empty. Overall, the very low turnout was disappointing for everyone involved.
The cheapest ticket before the match was £37, and during the game, online prices dropped to £26. Still, fans did not come to the stadium.
Recently, there has been much discussion about whether the Club World Cup can attract fan interest, and Chelsea’s match is likely to add fuel to that debate.
Just two years ago, Chelsea played at the same stadium in a Premier League Summer Series friendly against Newcastle. That match sold out completely with over 70,000 fans in attendance. Now even a FIFA tournament can’t pull in the crowds.
This raises a big question: Have fans really lost interest in the Club World Cup, or is this just a reflection of soccer’s relatively lower popularity in the US? If the latter is true, it could spell trouble for the 2026 World Cup organizers.
Dog Roberson, a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, shared his thoughts with the BBC. He pointed to the timing of the match as a key reason for low attendance: “It’s not that people here don’t care about soccer. The match was on a Monday at 3 pm. Honestly, I’m surprised so many people showed up.”
Roberson also mentioned another reason for lack of interest in the tournament: “This is a tournament that’s not very important to people in the US because it’s new. I think people aren’t spending money on it because the World Cup is coming next year and they’re saving up for that. If I were FIFA, I’d schedule such tournaments at times when more people can attend. Also, the ticket prices were really unreasonable.”
Sports journalist Jonathan Tannenwald highlighted the lack of local promotion: “If you come here, you need to do a lot of marketing. You can’t expect people to just show up on their own. There was no local organizing committee in America because FIFA handled everything themselves.”
Looking ahead to the knockout rounds, Tannenwald said: “Will people come to the knockout games? Maybe. But with expensive tickets and matches in Atlanta, would people come for Chelsea vs LAFC in the group stage? No, they’d make a smart decision not to.”
It’s not that every match has low attendance. For example, the PSG vs Atlético Madrid match at the Rose Bowl drew around 80,000 fans. LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said: “I think it depends on the match. The PSG-Atlético game had a huge crowd. Maybe LA loves soccer more than Atlanta does! Honestly, we’ll know better after the tournament is over.”
