The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event.
If you want to understand the scale of the World Cup, start with the crowds.
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The 1994 World Cup still holds the attendance record, with 3,587,538 spectators packing into stadiums across the United States that summer. Helping that record number was the 94,194 in attendance for the final at the Rose Bowl in Greater Los Angeles to see Brazil beat Italy in a dramatic penalty shootout.
And it definitely wasn’t a one-off.
Each of the past four World Cups has drawn over 3 million fans in person. Brazil 2014 was the closest to matching the USA 1994 number with a total attendance of 3,441,450.
As for sheer spectacle, nothing tops the most epic crowd in soccer history. The 1950 final between Uruguay and Brazil drew an estimated 173,850 fans to the legendary Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.
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Only two other individual World Cup matches have drawn over 100,000 fans. The 1986 final brought 114,600 Estadio Azteca in Mexico City to watch Argentina beat West Germany.
And back in 1970, a group-stage match attracted 108,192 fans to Estadio Azteca to watch Mexico beat Belgium 1-0.
The numbers sound almost impossible. But where the World Cup goes, the crowds follow.
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