The 2026 FIFA World Cup has broken attendance records through its group stage, with official figures showing 4,644,549 fans attending the 72 matches played across 16 host cities in Canada, Mexico, and the United States over the first 17 days of competition.
The FIFA Fan Festival, running alongside the tournament, drew 5.5 million visitors since the opening day, making it the largest in World Cup history.
The expanded format brought 1,248 players representing 48 national teams to North America, the first time the tournament has been held at this scale. Of those, 999 players featured in group-stage matches.
FIFA said the numbers from the group stage reflect the scale of the expanded tournament across international participation, stadium attendance, and organisation, and pointed to the knockout rounds as likely to extend the record-setting run.
