World Cup 2026 colour chart: fans of all 48 teams join the party – in pictures
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- 2026 World Cup set a new all-time attendance record for the men's tournament, surpassing the previous mark of 3,587,538 from the 1994 World Cup, and the group stage has only just ended.
- The 48-team field is split across 12 groups (A through L), the largest men's World Cup format to date, with traditional powers like Brazil, Germany, Argentina, France, England, and Spain joined by debutants and less-familiar nations.
- Fan culture has been a defining visual element, with displays ranging from Mexico's duck mascot to Norway's Viking rowers at stadiums and watch parties worldwide.
- Group-stage results already featured competitive shocks across all 12 groups, setting up a knockout bracket that will extend the tournament and further inflate the attendance total.
- Tournament expansion to 48 teams — up from 32 in Qatar 2022 — is the structural driver behind the record, as more matches in more host cities generate more ticketed attendance than any prior edition.
Why it matters: Because the group stage has only just ended and 32 teams still have knockout football to play, the all-time attendance record — already broken before the round of 16 — will climb significantly higher, cementing 2026 as the benchmark future hosts will be measured against and validating FIFA's controversial 48-team expansion on a raw numbers basis.
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