Chelsea Dominate LAFC in Front of Empty Seats at Club World Cup Opener
So, Chelsea kicked off their Club World Cup journey with a 2-0 win over LAFC—but let’s be honest, the real headline wasn’t the football. It was the eerie sight of tens of thousands of empty red seats in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. You’d expect a global tournament like this to generate buzz, energy, even chaos—but instead, it felt like a glorified training session played to an uninterested crowd.
To be fair, it was a Monday afternoon—3PM local time. Most people were probably at work. But still, only 22,137 fans turned up in a stadium that can hold 71,000. The entire top tier was shut off, and the lower sections were patchy at best. You’d have thought Chelsea—a club with a huge global following—would draw more. And LAFC? They had to fly over 2,000 miles to get there. They did bring some noise, credit to their 150 or so hardcore fans, but the rest of the place? Silent.
Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s boss, admitted it felt “strange.” And it did. Football thrives off atmosphere. Whether it's a roaring crowd or hostile away fans, that noise pushes players to another level. Without it? It’s just... flat.
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The match itself had its moments—Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez got on the scoresheet, and young Liam Delap came on to make his debut, which sparked a bit of life in the Chelsea end. But even with a decent performance, the overall vibe was underwhelming.
And then there’s the bigger picture. This expanded Club World Cup is supposed to be a dress rehearsal for next year’s World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico. But if this is the vibe we’re going to get—half-empty stadiums, overpriced tickets, and questionable scheduling—it raises real concerns. Can FIFA really expect American fans to get behind tournaments they barely understand or weren’t even marketed properly?
Some fans were paying £37 for tickets, while others reportedly got four for the price of one through FIFA promotions. There was clearly confusion. Lack of local engagement, high costs, odd kick-off times—it’s a recipe for apathy. Even local journalists pointed out that people aren’t necessarily anti-football. It’s just that this tournament doesn’t mean much to them.
DAZN did bring something fresh to the table with a new “Ref Cam” angle during the broadcast, and fans online loved it—calling it a game-changer. Maybe it’ll catch on, but fancy tech doesn’t make up for the lack of bums in seats.
In the end, Chelsea did what they needed to do on the pitch. But off the pitch? This felt like a missed opportunity. And if FIFA doesn’t sort it out, they might face similar scenes next summer—when the world really will be watching.
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