FIFA bosses left red-faced as Club World Cup issue becomes clearer in Chelsea match

There were huge swathes of empty red seats in the 71,000 capacity Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta as ticket sales appeared to have flopped for Chelsea’s opener against LAFC

FIFA bosses have been left red-faced after Chelsea’s Club World Cup opener against LAFC was played in front of a half-empty stadium. There were huge swathes of empty red seats in the 71,000 capacity Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta as ticket sales appeared to have flopped.

Tickets for general admission were on sale for £38 ($51) but the spectacular £1billion stadium did not look even half full at kick-off. There were pre-match estimates that the crowd was expected to be around 26,000 and it is hard to estimate exact figures.

FIFA had reduced prices for matches in the States after a poor take up – and attendances over the weekend had been better than first feared. Inter Miami’s opening match of the tournament – with Lionel Messi the star attraction – drew 60,927 for their game with Al Ahly.

More than 80,000 were in the Rose Bowl on Sunday to watch Paris-Saint Germain’s 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid. But the game in Atlanta failed to have the same attraction although it was played at 3pm on a normal work day Monday.

The scheduling has clearly been an issue but the number of empty seats will be a blow to FIFA at the start of their new-look 32 team tournament. The winners stand to win £97m in prize money with a total pot of £775m across the four-week tournament played across the States.

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Meanwhile, Bayern Munich’s 10-goal win in the Club World Cup drew in a bumper TV audience. A peak of 560,000 watched Bayern’s win over no-hopers Auckland City on Channel 5 as the new tournament drew in viewers.

There was an average audience of 392,000 for the 10-0 thumping while England’s under-21s averaged 562,000 and peaked at 840,000 on Channel 4.

Channel 5 are showing live games from the tournament in the United States after striking a deal with DAZN and it remains to be seen whether it will be a hit with viewers.

Ahead of Chelsea’s first match, Enzo Maresca said Liam Delap can become England’s next No9. Maresca insists his new £30m signing has got all the attributes to succeed Harry Kane as England’s first choice centre forward.

Chelsea boss Maresca worked with Delap while an academy coach at Manchester City and that was a major factor in why they were able to persuade him to move to Stamford Bridge from Ipswich this summer.

Maresca said: “When we faced Ipswich, before we faced Ipswich, so Liam was not a Chelsea player, I said that for me, Liam, potentially he can be England number nine.

“So he was not even with us. And for sure now that he’s with us, I’m going to say again that I don’t have any doubt that he can be in the future England number nine. And then the other one, we’ll see.

“Liam knows quite well how important the number nine is for this club. Personally I don’t see any problem about that in terms of, I see Liam quite relaxed, easy, he’s doing well, since he arrived he’s working well.

“We know each other from years ago, so I know what Liam can give us, he knows what we can give to him to improve and to become a better player. And again in terms of number nine, hopefully he can score goals for us.”

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