Five millionth fan attends FIFA World Cup 2026 to make competition history
Total attendance at the FIFA World Cup 2026 has broken the five million barrier to set an incredible new benchmark for the near-100-year-old competition.
France fan Raphaël Noufele was the supporter who set the new landmark figure for the FIFA World Cup as he attended France’s Round of 32 defeat of Sweden at the New York New Jersey Stadium.
FIFA World Cup winners Blaise Matuidi and Youri Djorkaeff presented him with a ceremonial ticket to recognise the new record and his role in it ahead of Les Bleus’ 3-0 win.
Noufele then received the shirt of current squad member Désiré Doué from head coach Didier Deschamps.
“Pretty amazing. I’m still not realising it. When I get home tonight, I’ll sit down and reflect, but it’s been awesome, it’s been amazing,” said the 25-year-old, who grew up between Paris, France and New York City, New York.
“I mean, this tournament is really popular. It means everyone’s loving it. I think it’ll be even more in the future for sure. Soon 10 million, hopefully.”
Noufele, whose first FIFA World Cup memory was of himself crying after France’s defeat in the Germany 2006 final, attended matches at the tournament in Qatar four years ago.
He had also previously been to the New York-New Jersey Stadium when France defeated Senegal in the 2026 tournament’s group stage.
On his second visit, he saw another victory for the France 1998 and Russia 2018 winners as part of a capacity 80,663 crowd that took FIFA World Cup attendances into uncharted territory.
“The atmosphere is amazing; you can see it all around the cities in the United States. You know, this is the FIFA World Cup, and we’re loving it,” said Matuidi, one of France’s 2018 champions and who now lives in the United States.