The number was higher than in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia according to FIFA.
More than 2.45 million people attended the first 48 matches of the Qatar 2022 World Cup as teams from five federations reached the round of 16, football governing body FIFA said on Saturday.
The figure was higher than the 2018 World Cup in Russia in the group stages, FIFA said in the report.
Of all the matches in the first half of the tournament, the most attended match was between Argentina and Mexico at the Lusail Stadium with 88,996 in attendance.
Lusail will be the last stop, too.
Meanwhile, at the FIFA Fan Festival in Doha, more than one million people visited the venue, a place where fans gather to watch live matches in the tournament and which was introduced in 2006 at the World Cup in Germany.
So far, Saudi Arabia topped the list of most visitors with over 77,000 followed by India with 56,893.
Before Qatar 2022 kicks off on November 20, the host country said it expects more than one million visitors.
In terms of TV audience, 36 million people watched Japan vs Costa Rica, while USA vs England was the most watched soccer game in US televised history.
16 different types
According to FIFA, this year was the first time since 2002 that teams from all continents reached the round of 16.
“This is the first time that two African teams [Senegal and Morocco] reached the last 16 – the last time came in 2014 [Algeria and Nigeria],” the governing body said.
Morocco topped their group after defeating Belgium and Canada, while drawing with Croatia in their opening match. Meanwhile, the Senegalese team defeated Qatar and played against Ecuador and the Netherlands in their Group A matches.
The victory of South Korea, Australia and Japan was the first time that three countries from the Asian Football Confederation reached the 16th round of the World Cup, the report added.
