The Azteca drew 80,824 fans, the largest World Cup opening match crowd since South Africa hosted Mexico at Soccer City 16 years ago.
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South Africa’s 2-0 defeat to Mexico at the Estadio Azteca drew the largest attendance of the 2026 World Cup’s opening weekend – and remarkably, Bafana Bafana now feature in two of the five biggest opening match crowds in recent World Cup history.
The 80,824 fans who packed the Azteca on 11 June are the second-highest opening match attendance across the last five tournaments, beaten only by the 84,490 who attended South Africa vs Mexico at Soccer City in Johannesburg in 2010.
🏟️ Attendances | 🌎 FIFA World Cup 2026 (11-13 June)
80,824 🇲🇽 Mexico v 🇿🇦 South Africa
80,663 🇧🇷 Brazil v 🇲🇦 Morocco
70,492 🇺🇸 United States v 🇵🇾 Paraguay
67,966 🇶🇦 Qatar v 🇨🇭 Switzerland
64,146 🇭🇹 Haiti v 🏴 Scotland
52,497 🇦🇺 Australia v 🇹🇷 Türkiye
44,985 🇰🇷 South Korea v 🇨🇿… pic.twitter.com/5HOipI4Vzp— Football Meets Data (@fmeetsdata) June 14, 2026
Both of the top two opening match crowds in recent World Cup history have involved the same two nations, and South Africa were on the pitch for both.
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The comparison across tournaments makes for striking reading. Russia vs Saudi Arabia at the 2018 World Cup drew 78,011. Brazil vs Croatia in 2014 attracted 62,103.
Qatar vs Ecuador in 2022 brought in just 67,372 – more than 13,000 fewer than the 2026 opener.
The 80,824 figure also edged out the second biggest crowd of the 2026 opening weekend – Brazil’s 1-1 draw with Morocco, which attracted 80,663 fans – to give Bafana Bafana the honour of featuring in the most-watched match of the entire first matchday so far.
Every other fixture across the opening weekend fell well short of the two African-nation clashes at the top of the attendance table.
The United States against Paraguay drew 70,492, Qatar against Switzerland attracted 67,966, and Haiti’s clash with Scotland pulled in 64,146. The remaining three fixtures all fell below 53,000.
Bafana may have lost 2-0 on the night. But South Africa drew the biggest crowd of the weekend – and the second biggest World Cup opening match attendance in 16 years.
Originally published by Soccermag.
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