FIFA chiefs have been left embarrassed as Chelsea's Club World Cup opener against LAFC was played in front of a half-empty stadium. The 71,000 capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta was filled with empty red seats, indicating a flop in ticket sales.
Despite a clear lack of demand, general admission tickets were still on sale for as high as £38 ($51) on Monday. The impressive £1billion stadium appeared far from half full at kick-off. Pre-match estimates suggested an expected crowd of around 26,000, though exact figures are difficult to determine.
In response to poor uptake, FIFA had lowered prices for matches in the States, resulting in better-than-anticipated attendances over the weekend.
Inter Miami's opening match of the tournament, featuring Lionel Messi, attracted 60,927 spectators for their game against Al Ahly.
Over 80,000 fans flocked to the Rose Bowl on Sunday to witness Paris Saint-Germain's 4-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.
However, the match in Atlanta, scheduled for 3pm local time on a typical workday Monday, failed to draw the same level of interest.
The scheduling has evidently been problematic, and the number of vacant seats will undoubtedly be a disappointment to FIFA at the commencement of their revamped 32-team tournament.
The winners stand to receive £97m in prize money, with a total pot of £775m distributed throughout the four-week tournament held across the States.
Bayern Munich's staggering 10-goal victory in the Club World Cup has captured the attention of British viewers, with a whopping 560,000 tuning in to watch the German giants dismantle Auckland City on Channel 5.
The new tournament is proving to be a draw for fans, with an average of 392,000 watching the match, while England's under-21s also pulled in impressive figures on Channel 4.
Channel 5's live coverage of the tournament from the US, thanks to a deal with DAZN, could become a fan favourite if these numbers are anything to go by.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca named £30m newcomer Liam Delap among his substitutes for the opener. However, the Argentine tipped him to be England's future striker.
Maresca, who previously coached Delap in Manchester City's academy, believes the striker has what it takes to follow in Harry Kane's footsteps as the nation's leading forward.
He said: "When we faced Ipswich, before we faced Ipswich, so Liam was not a Chelsea player, I said that for me, Liam, potentially, he can be England number nine.
"So he was not even with us. And for sure now that he's with us, I'm going to say again that I don't have any doubt that he can be in the future England number nine.
"And then the other one, we'll see. Liam knows quite well how important the number nine is for this club.
"Personally, I don't see any problem with that in terms of, I see Liam quite relaxed, easy, he's doing well, since he arrived, he's working well.
"We know each other from years ago, so I know what Liam can give us, and he knows what we can give to him to improve and to become a better player.
"And again in terms of number nine, hopefully he can score goals for us."