There were thousands of empty seats on display today as Uruguay took on Egypt in the second match of Group A. Even the stands facing the TV cameras were not full, with many empty sections visible to viewers.
Loving the empty seats at the World Cup@FIFAWorldCup @FIFAcom #WorldCupRussia2018 #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/2I7SAdYPYw
— LJ (@Dublin42) June 15, 2018
A FIFA spokesman said: "We can confirm that the official attendance for the match between Egypt and Uruguay in Ekaterinburg is 27,015. The FIFA World Cup stadium capacity is 33,061".
The fact that the actual attendance is lower than the number of allocated tickets can be due to different factors, including 'no shows' on match day, which FIFA is currently investigating.
Reports are also surfacing that as many as eight of the tournament’s remaining 12 opening group fixtures have not sold out, including England's opening match against Tunisia.
The empty seats were not lost by viewers at home, who tweeted their disapproval at the lack of a crowd in the Yekaterinburg Stadium:
There should never be empty seats at a World Cup game #Worldcup2018Russia
— Alan Kelly (@alanrefkelly) June 15, 2018
Empty seats at the World Cup should be illegal...
— TalkFCB (@FCBNewsRoom) June 15, 2018
Empty seats @ the #WorldCup is both comical & pathetic ??. Clean your s**t up my word.
— Taylor Twellman (@TaylorTwellman) June 15, 2018
So sad to see so many empty seats at a world cup game!!! Need to be marketed better surly or Better priced so people can go!!!!
— Noel Hunt (@Noelhunt20) June 15, 2018
If there’s this many empty seats in Russia imagine how dead the Qatar World Cup will be ffs
— On my way! (@yunghealthy) June 15, 2018
Who's gonna start the World Cup Empty Seats Twitter account
— Miriti Murungi (@NutmegRadio) June 15, 2018
Journalist Eoghan Rice of The Times highlighted the biggest fallout from the news:
The worst thing about all those empty seats is the inevitable newspaper columns about how Laois v Carlow is more popular than the World Cup.
— Eoghan Rice (@rice_e) June 15, 2018
