Qatar World Cup, fan rent and the fight for recognition – The final tournament that has dominated the fan hierarchy for nearly 30 years

During the 21st season, the FIFA World Cup continues to grow, gathering more and more fans and sponsors. 92 years after the first final tournament (Uruguay, 1930), the competition of the queen of football gathered more than three million spectators at one time.

Roberto Baggio and the missed penalty in the 1994 World Cup finalPhoto: OMAR TORRES / AFP / Profimedia

Qatar 2022 can’t take the top spot in the all-time World Cup fan rankings

With small stadiums by the standards we’ve become accustomed to at World Cups in recent years, Qatar can’t top this particular hierarchy of fans attending the final tournament.

In addition, the country is not big at all, and it also lacks any football tradition, and all kinds of restrictions have made many fans around the world think twice before choosing Qatar.

In addition, the host country has been accused of hiring fans to create an atmosphere at the final tournament.

From 17 matches in Italy in 1934, there are now 64 matches in the World Cup

In 1930, the World Championship started in Uruguay. A total of 18 matches were played, and the host country became the first world champion (4-2 in the final against Argentina).

That final tournament also featured Romania, which lost 3-1 to Peru and 4-0 to Uruguay (eliminated from the group stage).

The competition was held in three stadiums: Centenario (90,000 seats), Gran Park (20,000 seats) and Positos (10,000 seats).

There were a total of 590,549 viewers. However, it would not be CM with the least help, the last in the hierarchy was to be the next edition, the Italian 1934 edition.

Italy v Austria at San Siro in the 1934 World Cup

Photo source: WCSCC AP / AP / Profimedia

Throughout its existence, the World Cup continued to grow, and in total from 17 matches (as many as in Italy in 1934) to 22 in Brazil (CM 1950).

He then reached 26 matches (CM 1954 Switzerland) and from 1962 (from Chile) reached 32 matches at the finals of the world tournament.

Another change occurred in 1958, when the World Cup in Sweden had a total of 35 matches.

Two 38-game editions followed (CM 1974 – West Germany and Argentina 1978).

Since 1982 (the edition is hosted by Spain), 52 matches have been held at the World Cup (including the 1994 World Cup in the USA).

Finally, the last change came with the “Coupe du Monde 1998” in France, which brought a total of 64 World Cup appearances.

Zidane, the game in the final against Brazil (3-0 for “Galician Roosters”)

The final of the 1998 World Cup

Zidane vs Brazil pic.twitter.com/h6QIKhIYXJ

— Stop That Zizou (@StopThatZizou) March 27, 2022

The 1994 World Cup in the USA, the final tournament with the largest number of spectators in the stands

Italy 1934 is the last in terms of the total number of spectators present at the World Cup: 363,000 thousand, an average of 21,353 per game.

First edition to exceed one million fans: Brazil 1950. A total of 1,045,246 fans attended the final tournament.

The next important milestone was reached at the 1982 World Cup in Spain: the final tournament was attended by more than two million spectators (2,109,723, an average of 40,572 fans per match).

At the World Cup (Italy, 1990) it was visited by more than 2.5 million spectators, and in Japan and South Korea (2002) – more than 2.7 million fans.

At the last four editions of the World Cup (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018), the three million barrier in the stands was exceeded each time.

Surprisingly or not, the 1994 World Cup in the USA still remains the final tournament with the largest number of visitors. In total, we are talking about 3,587,538, an average of 68,991 per match (the highest figure in the history of the World Cup).

THE 1994 SOCCER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE USA SET A RECORD FOR HOSPITAL ATTENDANCE AT A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH.#FAIR GAME #WORLDCHAMPIONSHIP2022 #QATAR2022 WORLD CHUPIBOK #FIFA World Cup #FIFA #FIFAWorldCupQatar2022 @FIFAWORLDCUP #FIFA22 pic.twitter.com/A8JG8F21bR

— AJUKWU (@AJUKWU1) November 18, 2022

The match at Maracana, the absolute record number of fans at the World Cup in football

The match between Brazil and Uruguay (since 1950) holds the record for most assists in World Cup history. We are talking about 173,850 fans who attended that match (Uruguay won 2:1).

Next in the hierarchy are two matches at the Azteca Stadium from the 1986 edition (Mexico v Paraguay 1-1 and Argentina v West Germany 3-2, final) with 114,600 fans.

Maracana record and assists at the World Cup

Photo source: – / DPA / Profimedia

The 1950 FIFA World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay at the Maracana Stadium. Officially watched by 173,850 people and possibly more than 200,000, this football match remains the most attended football match.

© Post Historian#archeohistory pic.twitter.com/ATfmIxU9Fg

— Archaeo – Histories (@archaeohistories) January 6, 2022

#WC1950: the boy is watching the game #Brazil in #Maracana. He was hired by FIFA for the official 1950 World Cup film. pic.twitter.com/WKzsCy2xIQ

— OldFootballPhotos (@OldFootball11) April 9, 2019