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| EPAYonhap News |
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Is soccer still 'Minor Sports' in the United States.
The FIFA Club World Cup group match between Chelsea and LAFC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on the 17th (Korea time) was embroiled in a controversy over the vacancy. The number of spectators entering the stadium on the day, which is 71,000 seats, is 22,137, which is 31% of the total capacity. Although the number of spectators with more than 20,000 is not small, it is clear that it is a disappointing number considering the status of the tournament, where the top clubs of each continent are held with a total prize money of $1 billion (about 1.364 trillion won). The fact that the competition was held in the U.S., dubbed the "professional sports heaven," is also regrettable in terms of mobilizing spectators.
The BBC reported 'FIFA expected more than 26,000 spectators on the day. Some of the seats looked full, but most of the rest were empty, he introduced. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said after the game that the audience was almost empty. The atmosphere in the stadium was a little strange."
LAFC, which was founded in 2014 and has participated in the U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) since 2018, is a team that has been popular even in its short history. He also boasts excellent skills enough to advance to the MLS Cup playoffs six times out of the seven seasons he played until last year after participating in the league for the first time. Based on these achievements, the number of supporters is considerable. The BBC said there were only 150 LAFC supporters who visited Chelsea, but they led the mood, overwhelming a lot more Chelsea fans.
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| AFP Yonhap News |
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Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the game was held, is the home of MLS Atlanta United. Atlanta ranked first overall last year with an average attendance of 46,831 per game. Atlanta is the only team in the MLS with an average of more than 40,000 spectators. In the 2018-2019 season, just before COVID-19, the average number of spectators per game exceeded 50,000 for the second consecutive year. However, the Chelsea-LAFC match showed less than half of Atlanta's average attendance last season, let alone 50,000.
LAFC was invited to the Club World Cup in a hurry. Clube Leon (Mexico), who was originally scheduled to participate, was disqualified from FIFA for violating rules on ownership of multiple clubs, and was belatedly selected as an alternative team only last month. Chelsea, Tunis, Flamengoo were in the group they belonged to with a 'stuck' As a result, unlike Inter Miami and Seattle, which are participating in the tournament together, playing at their home stadium with the 'Mausoleum of Operations', LAFC will play in Atlanta, more than 2,000 kilometers away from their home base. The upcoming games of Tunis and Flamengoo will be held in Nashville and Orlando, not far from Atlanta, respectively. It's a difficult condition to expect a 'hung-haeng jackpot'.
Reporter Park Sang-kyung ppark@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
