Most Attended World Cups

Almost 600K spectators witnessed the 1930 FIFA World Cup in Uruguay in person, the first ever of its kind. That was a surprising figure, given that this was the first time ever that the tournament was held. The host nation beat Argentina 4-2 in the final — one of the 8 World Cups won by the host.

In 2018, about 3M people attended the World Cup in Russia—a demonstration of how football has become a global phenomenon in the last century. While that figure is remarkably high, the previous World Cup ranks fourth in attendance. The #1 title belongs to the 1994 World Cup in the United States, which attracted more than 3.5M spectators in total—given their massive arenas, and a sports-oriented culture, this may not be entirely surprising. And in second place? Brazil 2014.

The Qatar World Cup, set to begin this Sunday, is only expected to bring 1.2M foreign visitors. This likely means that Qatar won't break the assistance record this year; it may have numbers close to or below the 70s, which would be a substantial drop. However, it may break the overall viewership record. When adding TV, streaming services, and YouTube, more people watch football than ever before. More than half of the world watched the 2018 World Cup — 3.5B people.