The attendances for the first four matches of the 2022 World Cup were all larger than the official capacities of the stadiums in which they took place.
Furthermore, empty seats could clearly be seen at Monday’s matches: England’s 6-2 win over Iran, Netherlands 2-0 Senegal and the 1-1 draw between Wales and the US.
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How is that possible? Has FIFA or Qatar 2022 somehow conjured up more seats? Or isn’t the counting being done properly?
The Athletic explains…
What happened?
The official attendance for Ecuador’s 2-0 win over hosts Qatar on Sunday at the Al Bayt Stadium was 67,372, yet FIFA documents listed the ground’s capacity at 60,000.
It was a similar case for England against Iran at Khalifa International on Monday: it was announced that 45,334 people had attended the match yet the ground was listed as holding only 40,000.
Then came Netherlands against Senegal at Al-Thumama Stadium and a crowd of 41,721 in another 40,000-seat stadium.
And finally the USMNT against Wales at Ahmad bin Ali, which had an official attendance of 43,418 in another stadium with a capacity of 40,000.
So, overall, that’s 17,845 people sitting in seats that didn’t officially exist.
Even more confusingly, empty seats could clearly be seen at all three of Monday’s matches, too.
So what’s going on?
Well, on Tuesday morning the capacities of the eight stadiums at the Qatar World Cup changed on the FIFA website.
Al Bayt’s capacity grew to 68,895, Khalifa International to 45,857, Al-Thumana to 44,400 and Ahmad bin Ali to 45,632.
Using those figures and the official attendances, the stadiums would have been pretty much full for the opening matches, which makes a bit more sense.
But why have the capacities changed? Have more seats been put in overnight?
Not quite. Stadiums which host group games, round-of-16 matches and quarter-finals at World Cups must hold at least 40,000 people. It’s 60,000 for semi-final stadiums and 80,000 for the World Cup final.
FIFA says it used these rounded figures when stating the capacities for the grounds which will host matches in Qatar.
Read more: World Cup 2022 prize money: What payout will France or Argentina receive for winning in Qatar?
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Then, after all operational factors had been accounted for — such as the positions of camera and TV presentation platforms, for example — each individual seat was counted and the figures were updated. This, however, happened after the tournament had begun, which led to the confusion.
So was it different for Tuesday’s matches?
Yes, because the official capacities had been increased. So 88,012 were recorded as watching Saudi Arabia’s shock 2-1 win over Argentina at the Lusail. This stadium will host the World Cup final on November 18 and so was listed as having a capacity of 80,000 until Monday. Now it’s 88,966, meaning it was 99 per cent full as opposed to having 8,012 fans over capacity.
But what about those empty seats? How is the official attendance calculated?
It is the number of people who are in the stadium, rather than the number of tickets sold, according to FIFA. This enables corporate guests and media personnel — who do not pay for their tickets — to be included in the final number.
Nearly three million tickets have been sold for the tournament.
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