Lincoln Financial Field holds its last FIFA Club World Cup game this Friday with a Fourth of July quarterfinal between Brazilian club Palmeiras and English Premier League team Chelsea.
The round-of-16 stage of the tournament’s group stages closed out Tuesday night, with five European sides, two Brazilian teams and Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia making it to the quarterfinals.
Al Hilal pulled off a historic shocker over English superclub Manchester City, in what was jokingly termed an “oil derby” (Man City is owned by a United Arab Emirates-based private equity group). Fluminense, from Rio De Janeiro, scored its own upset victory over Italian side Inter Milan earlier that day.
Palmeiras made it through by finishing first in Group A and then defeating Brazilian Série A rivals Botafogo, 1-0, at the Linc last Saturday, in a game that went to extra time and ended with Palmeiras fielding only 10 players.
Chelsea will be playing its third game in Philadelphia this tournament. The London-based side were at the Linc for a shocking loss against Rio De Janeiro’s Flamengo and a win over Espérance de Tunisie. It also defeated Los Angeles City FC in Atlanta before those games. The team finished second in Group D behind Flamengo and went on to face Portugal’s Benfica in Charlottes, winning that game comfortably, 4-1.
Chelsea, and its fans, have become pretty familiar with the Linc. Before the Club World Cup, they were here as part of the English Premier League’s inaugural Summer Series games in 2023.
According to FIFA, the total attendance in the 12 stadiums hosting games after the group stages was 1,667,819 — an average of 34,746 fans per match. The tournament crossed the 2 million fan mark with Tuesday’s night’s match between Mexico’s Monterrey and Germany’s Borussia Dortmund.
Average attendance for the Linc’s seven games so far has been a higher-than-average 40,181, with the peak being 64,811 at the group stage game between FC Salzburg and Real Madrid. That game wasn’t too far off from the stadium’s record soccer attendance (69,879), set last year in the exhibition match between English giants Liverpool and Arsenal, though the Linc’s capacity has been decreased by a few hundred seats for this tournament.
The tournament has brought diverse and vibrant groups of international fans to the city, giving Philadelphians a taste of what’s sure to be happening at a greater scale during next year’s six FIFA World Cup games in the city. The stadium and city’s planning groups have also gotten a dress rehearsal for what can be expected — good and bad — from the 6.5 million soccer fans travelling into the 16 cities across the U.S., Canada and Mexico hosting the tournament.
Among the concerns have been the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the risks they could pose to foreign fans and migrant populations hoping to attend the games in the U.S.
Another issue raised was player safety in the summer temperatures. FIFPRO, soccer’s global players union, identified Philly as one of the “very high risk” cities for heat stress injuries if games are played in the hottest afternoon hours, one tier short of the “extremely high risk” designation cities including Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City, Houston, Miami and Monterrey have been assigned.
Friday’s game kicks off at 9 p.m. and tickets are still available. The Phillies also host the Cincinnati Reds next door at Citizens Bank Park earlier on July Fourth. The tournament semifinals and final will all be held at nearby Metlife Stadium.
All Club World Cup games have been available to watch live for free on DAZN’s streaming platform. Select games will also air on TNT’s channels in English and in Spanish on Univision.
