Football Tournaments With The Highest Attendance Rates

Football has always been a game of big numbers. From massive, international tournaments, huge clubs, and the biggest fanbase in the world, there are a lot of reasons that football is often regarded as the most popular sport of all time.

This has also meant that there have been more than a handful of football matches throughout the years that have seen tens of thousands of fans up in the seats, passionately screaming for their beloved team. Here we will look at the games that have had the biggest attendance numbers of all time.

Hampden Park

Hampden Park has long been setting records for the sheer amount of people that attend the games, and it has become legendary within the football world. The first record that the stadium set was back in 1937 when Celtic took to the field against Aberdeen.

In total, 147365 fans were part of the crowd in the stadium that day, which would be a number so high that it set two records for the event: one for the most attendances in a National Cup Final in the world, and one of the most attendance for a domestic game played in Europe. It was especially unique for Celtic player Jimmy Delaney, who had been watched by a total of almost 300,000 people over the course of just 7 days.

Estadio Da Luz

Estadio Da Luz holds the record for the largest attendance of all time in Portugal, and it was a record that was set just 30 year ago. Over 135,000 fans were present for the match played between Porto and Benfica, with the hosts of the event ultimately winning with a 3-1 victory, setting up to earn the Primeira Liga win for the season.

Unfortunately, it’s a record that won’t ever be replaced in spirit of the stadium, as the original Estadio da Luz was knocked down and replaced with a new stadium in 2003, and has yet to retain the same number of fans for any match since, especially with the rise of other forms of entertainment, such as online bingo in Canada.

Maracana Stadium

The record holder for the largest attendance ever officially documented was for a game held in Maracan Stadium, located in Rio de Janeiro. In total, almost 200,000 came to watch Uruguay as they won the World Cup trophy in 1950.

The hosts of the match only needed a draw in order to win, and it was a time when the winners were not decided through a knockout tournament. Rather, the top teams played one another in mini games and the winner would be declared the winner.

Brazil had entered the game with a single point ahead of their opponents, and despite being behind the lead, Uruguay managed to turn the match completely around in the second half, eventually winning with just 11 minutes left on the clock. It’s considered to be one of the greatest sporting upsets in history, and Brazilian fans in particular were heartbroken that their team had lost. They were so confident, in fact, that they printed almost two dozen gold medals for the players before the start of the game, making the loss that much more difficult.