According to L'Équipe, the FIFA World Cup match where South Korea defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 saw many empty seats in Guadalajara, reigniting criticism of FIFA's ticket pricing policy.
According to L'Équipe, the FIFA World Cup match where South Korea defeated the Czech Republic 2-1 saw many empty seats in Guadalajara, reigniting criticism of FIFA's ticket pricing policy. In this FIFA World Cup match held at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, many seats remained empty throughout. The match took place on Thursday, and television broadcasts clearly showed rows of vacant red seats in the stands.
Despite this, FIFA announced an attendance of 44,985 for the match, with a stadium capacity of 48,000. It is difficult to attribute these empty seats to a single reason. FIFA's long-criticized ticket pricing may be one of the reasons.
The Athletic reported that the cheapest tickets in the lower tier were approximately $500, with some hospitality packages costing as much as $5,000. The limited appeal of the match itself to Mexican fans and the thousands of unsold tickets still available on FIFA's official resale platform also affected attendance. Such scenes reflect a broader controversy sparked by FIFA's ticket pricing policy. Before the tournament began, nearly 180,000 tickets for the FIFA World Cup group stage were still available. Due to lower-than-expected demand for some matches, FIFA had even agreed to reduce some ticket prices.