The organizers of the tournament in Finland, even before the start of the tournament, understood that the situation with match attendance would not be the most joyful. The post-pandemic period, the absence of Russia and our fans are significant reasons for weak ticket sales.

However, the statistics on the results of the first weekend looks just awful. At this rate, this World Cup will be the worst attended in the 21st century.

Obviously, without our fans, the tournament is of little interest to anyone. One wants to ask: “Are you satisfied, Russophobes?”

Finnish matches save from disaster

This year the championship games are held in two cities of Suomi: Tampere and Helsinki. In the south of Finland, they built a modern Nokia Arena with a capacity of 13.5 thousand people and invited the national team to hold a group stage. In Helsinki, the tournament takes place at the modest 8,000-seat Ice Palace Arena.

And, perhaps, the Finns should be glad that they moved the capital’s matches here from the Hartwall Arena, which can accommodate one and a half times more. Otherwise, we might not have noticed the fans of the confrontation between France and Kazakhstan at all. Only 1,800 people attended the game on Sunday afternoon. Catastrophe!

photo: photo of the empty stands of the match France-Kazakhstan, 15.05.2022

In general, except for the games of their team, the Finns are not interested in anyone. Based on the results of three game days, or 16 matches, the average attendance is 5,353 people. By far the worst figure of this century. And these statistics would be much worse if it were not for the matches of the Finnish Lions, where in two games at the Nokia Arena there was almost a full house – about 11.5 thousand fans.

The rest of the matches are a failure. Even the top sign Sweden-Czech Republic gathered half as many fans as in 2018, when these teams played in a group at a tournament in Denmark. Then the game was attended by 12,490 people. Sunday evening at the big arena in Tampere – 6,089 people.

Russia makes cash register

Someone might think that it’s all about the group stage, which so far does not have much tournament value for the favorites. By the playoffs, people will start filling the stands. Unlikely.

If you look at the results of the group stages of the last two world championships, which allowed the presence of fans, then the IIHF is about to grab his head. In 2018 in Denmark, the games were held in two arenas (Copenhagen and Herning). At the end of the group stage, the average attendance was 7,844 people per game (+46% compared to the current year). In 2019 (Bratislava and Kosice) – 6,959 people (+30%). We emphasize that we are talking only about matches in the group.

Now here’s some fun math. If we analyze the occupancy of the stands in the group stage of the Russian team at these championships, then our team is always much higher than the average. In Denmark by 22% (9,577 people/match), in Slovakia by 23% (8,652 people/match). At the same time, we did not have a host country in the group.

Photo: © RvS.Media / Monika Majer / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In other words, if Russia were in Finland, our fans would significantly improve the situation in the stands.

Worst World Cup in a decade?

The worst tournament of the 21st century in terms of this indicator took place in 2002 in Sweden, where 5,456 spectators were the average occupancy of arenas in Karlstad, Gothenburg and Jönköping. And it’s still more than it is now.

It is more relevant to compare the current championship with the statistics of the previous tournament on Finnish soil, which took place in 2013. Then the “country of a thousand lakes” shared the right to hold with the Swedes. And, which is typical, the neighbors again spoiled all the statistics. At the Globe Arena in Stockholm in the group stage, they went 33% worse than in Helsinki (5516 versus 7386 people). Obviously, the Swedes have a mess with the organization of the tournament, but now Finland can beat the anti-record of the 21st century. Why? It’s simple:

– The reason is clear. The exclusion of Russia and, to some extent, Belarus has affected the number of tourists. The pandemic also remains a factor to some extent, admits Finnish Ilta Sanomat

Even foreign publications admit that without the Russians the championship looks inferior. In order to somehow remedy the situation, the organizers are starting to discount tickets, selling them 30% cheaper than face value, even for a strong sign Sweden – Czech Republic. And, as you can see, this does not improve the situation.

The only ones who could save the statistics of the tournament were the fans from Russia. Given that Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Malkin, Kaprizov and Orlov were released this year at the first stage of the NHL playoffs, our compatriots would have provided crazy traffic in the stands. But politics is more important than sports, and therefore the championship in Finland is waiting for the sad fate of the worst tournament in modern history. It turned out that no one really needs hockey without Russia.