Online Reporter
CHELSEA kicked off their FIFA Club World Cup football campaign against Los Angeles FC to tens of thousands of empty seats in Atlanta on Monday.
The game started at 3pm Atlanta time (9pm local time) on a working Monday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The attendance for Chelsea’s 2-0 win was announced as 22 137, in a ground which can hold 71 000 spectators — though the entire top tier was closed.
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, said: “I think the environment was a bit strange, the stadium was almost empty, not full.
“We are professional and we have to adapt to the situation, to the environment. You have to adapt when you play with a full stadium. You have to adapt when the stadium is not full but it doesn’t matter.”
Sources had told the BBC that FIFA were expecting a crowd of about 26 000.
A small middle tier seemed to be mostly full, but a larger bottom tier was more than half empty.
The cheapest ticket was about £37 immediately before kick-off, although seats were significantly more expensive in the build-up.
During the game tickets were still on sale online for £26 — with many available in nearly every section.
Los Angeles is more than 2 000 miles away from Atlanta, across the southern United States.
LAFC were late replacements for disqualified Leon in the tournament and their 150 ultras dominated the atmosphere — despite Chelsea having many more fans.
The Blues supporters mainly got animated for the goals, Liam Delap’s introduction for his debut and booing major decisions.
The newly expanded Club World Cup is being treated as a dress rehearsal for the international World Cup next summer, which will be held in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
The CWC is just being played in the US.
One of the big talking points in recent weeks was whether people cared about FIFA’s new-look competition.
Ticket sales have been slow, and this was the first match of the tournament to take place on a weekday.
There will be two or three games played during regular work hours on every other weekday this week and next week until the group stage ends on Thursday, June 26 (noon, 2pm and 3pm local time).
Chelsea also played at the stadium two years ago – and almost sold out with more than 70 000 fans watching them face Newcastle in a friendly tournament named the Premier League Summer Series. — BBC Sport.
