Thousands of empty seats were visible during a South Korea vs Czech Republic match at Estadio Akron in Guadalajara on June 12, 2026 — the second game of the tournament. The stadium holds over 45,000 people, but cameras showed significant gaps in the stands, The Sun reported.

FIFA, the organization that runs the World Cup, released a statement saying the empty seats weren't really a problem. Fans, they said, were gathering in the concourse — the open areas where people buy food and drinks or walk around — rather than sitting in their seats. But this explanation leaves a real question unanswered: were all those tickets actually sold in the first place?

Ticket prices have been a sticking point for this World Cup from the start. The 2026 tournament is being held across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and tickets have been expensive. Fans complained about costs during the qualification rounds, and complaints grew louder after the group stage was announced. For a match between South Korea and Czech Republic — two teams that aren't especially popular draws for people in Guadalajara — selling out a 45,000-seat stadium would have been tough. The Independent pointed out this pricing problem in its reporting on the empty seats.

When governing bodies like FIFA see empty seats, they often say fans are still in the building but just not in their seats yet. That's not entirely made up — modern stadiums do have large concourse areas, and some ticket-holders genuinely are getting food or drinks when cameras capture a shot of the stands. But here's the catch: if ticket prices are so high that people don't buy them in the first place, no amount of people in the concourse changes the basic fact that seats are unsold.

The way FIFA prices World Cup tickets creates conditions for exactly this kind of problem. When a global governing body sells tournament rights to three countries and sets prices aimed at wealthy international fans, it often fails to match what local people can actually afford to pay — especially in Mexican cities like Guadalajara, where typical incomes are lower than in wealthy parts of Europe or South America. Images of empty seats in a major football city hurt FIFA's case and the reputation both Mexico's government and its football federation were hoping to build around hosting the World Cup.

As of mid-June, FIFA had not acknowledged that pricing had anything to do with the empty seats. The organization's official explanation remained that fans were simply outside the stadium seating areas.