The four World Cup matches on Tuesday set a new record for the most attended day in the history of the tournament.
A new mark of 281,223 eclipsed the previous record of 277,070 set at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, which also featured four matches.
The combined figure came from matches between France and Senegal (80,545), Argentina and Algeria (69,045), Austria and Jordan (68,527) and Iraq and Norway (63,106).
FIFA say the current average attendance at the 2026 World Cup is 65,483 and is on track to surpass the tournament’s best cumulative record of 3.5 million in 1994.
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World Cup pitch felt ‘artificial’ – Adrien Rabiot
Adrien Rabiot has criticised the standard of the pitch at the New York New Jersey Stadium, saying it felt “more like an artificial surface”.
Midfielder Rabiot played the full match as France beat Senegal 3-1 on Tuesday in their Group I opener at the New Jersey venue which will host the World Cup final on July 19.
“The pitch, I don’t even know if you can call it that. It felt more like an artificial surface – quite hard and quite rigid,” Rabiot told reporters.
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Brazil forward Vinícius Júnior had complained about the surface after the 1-1 draw with Morocco on Saturday, saying the dry pitch had created a “very sluggish” game.
Scotland meet Morocco there on Friday, while England play their final group game against Panama at the New York New Jersey Stadium on June 27.
