NOW FIFA MASSAGE ATTENDANCES

STADIUM capacities have been updated on the official Qatar 2022 World Cup website – after questions over the validity of attendance figures.Tournament organisers FIFA and hosts Qatar have laid themselves open to accusations of massaging the true attendance figures.

The World Cup opener between hosts Qatar and Ecuador was held at the Al Byat Stadium, which supposedly has capacity for 60,000 fans. But the official figure given for the crowd was 67,372 and the capacity was updated to 68,895 on the official website. In the second game, England’s 6-2 thrashing of Iran at the 40,000-capacity Khalifa International Stadium on Monday, the crowd was given as 45,334.

FIFA claimed the stadium was only 500 short of capacity, but great swathes of empty seats (right) showed that figure to be wildly inaccurate. Again, the capacity of the stadium was updated to 45,857.

And Argentina’s historic 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia at the Lusail Stadium – venue for the final – was said to hold 80,000, but now has been updated to 88,996.