Ghana-Colombia World Cup match in Kansas City perpetuates a positive trend
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- Kansas City hosted a Round of 32 match between Ghana and Colombia at Arrowhead Stadium.
- Arrowhead Stadium reached at least 95% capacity for the Ghana–Colombia match.
- KC2026 reported 20% to 30% of group-stage attendees were foreign visitors.
People will use all sorts of statistics to determine whether they believe Kansas City being a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city was a success.
But from a soccer perspective it’s been a smash hit.
There was another huge crowd at Friday night’s Round of 32 match between Ghana and Colombia at Kansas City (Arrowhead) Stadium. Official attendance numbers weren’t to be announced until the second half, but it was a packed house again.
Although it appeared to be smaller than crowds at other games, the stadium was at least 95% full. That follows a positive trend for KC. The first four matches had a total of 275,079 fans. That’s out of a possible 276,180, or 99.6% capacity.
FIFA set the capacity at Arrowhead Stadium at 69,045.
KC2026 officials said 20% to 30% of the fans who attended the group-stage matches were foreign visitors. The most came from Ecuador, Argentina, Canada, Mexico, England, Colombia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Spain.
Those Colombia fans — in their traditional yellow jerseys and shirts— packed the stadium Friday.
Juan Correa traveled from Bucaramanga, Colombia, with his buddies Nick Arrieta, Alejandro Garcia and Santiago Rivera, arriving in KC on Thursday. They had no doubt that Colombia would win Group K, even though that meant beating out Portugal and star Ronaldo.
But the quartet made the bet on their team well before the World Cup began.
“We applied for the tickets five months ago, and we got them,” Correa said proudly. “We thought Columbia was going to pass first in the group.”
The yellow wasn’t just worn by fans cheering Colombia, as Ghana supporters also have that color. And there were a solid number of fans supporting the African nation that finished third in Group L. Ghana flags were flying in a few spots at Arrowhead.
