The second annual International Champions Cup tournament has ended, with the 2014 edition more than doubling the total attendance of the 2013 series.
The 2014 International Champions Cup was attended by 642,135 US soccer fans across the United States, which was more than double the number of the 2013 series that had a total of 306,344 attendees.
The average attendance for the 2014 games was 49,395, which is a 20% increase compared to the average in 2013 (41,048 per match). When you exclude the Ann Arbor game from the numbers, the average attendance still increased by 8% compared to 2013.
Attendances for the 2014 International Champions Cup broke records throughout the United States. In front of more than 109,000 fans at the “Big House” in Ann Arbor – breaking an attendance record for a professional soccer match in the United States – Manchester United topped reigning UEFA Champion Real Madrid 3-1. Meanwhile, there were huge crowds in Berkeley (62,583) for Real Madrid-Inter, in Charlotte (69,364) for Liverpool-Milan, in Landover (61,238) for Manchester United-AS Roma, as well as 51,014 for Manchester United against Liverpool in the final at Sun Life Stadium in Miami to name just a few.
The annual International Champions Cup has now become the must-attend club competition every summer for US soccer fans where they can see their favorite teams and players up close.
Plans are already in motion for the 2015 International Champions Cup with Manchester United among other clubs rumored to be participating.
There’s no doubt that the 2014 International Champions Cup was a resounding success during another sensational summer of soccer, proving once again that there’s a huge appetite for quality soccer across the United States.
| TEAMS | STADIUM | CITY | ATTENDANCE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympiacos-AC Milan | BMO Field | Toronto | 10,603 |
| Man Unitd vs Roma | Sports Authority Field | Denver | 54,117 |
| AC Milan vs Man City | Heinz Field | Pittsburgh | 34,347 |
| Inter-Real Madrid | Cal State | Berkeley | 62,583 |
| Olympiacos vs Liverpool | Soldier Field | Chicago | 36,170 |
| Man United vs Inter | Fedex Field | Washington DC | 61,238 |
| Real Madrid vs Roma | Cotton Bowl | Dallas | 57,512 |
| Liverpool vs Man City | Yankee Stadium | NYC | 49,653 |
| Inter-Roma | Lincoln Financial Field | Philadelphia | 12,169 |
| MUFC vs Real Madrid | The Big House | Ann Arbor | 109,318 |
| Olympiacos vs Man City | TCF Bank Stadium | Minneapolis | 34,047 |
| AC Milan vs Liverpool | Bank of America Stadium | Charlotte | 69,364 |
| MUFC vs LFC | Sun Life Stadium | Miami | 51,014 |
Looking forward to Europe hosting pre-season MLS matches while their domestic seasons are going on!
Their attendance would be an average of 5,000 people
5,000 is really generous.
Looking forward to not seeing any more Americans pretending to to Europeans for another year….
Not a surprise when you have Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid and A.C. Milan. Those are four of the biggest clubs in the world.
That’s a combined 25 European cups between those four sides.
They should have played the final in Ann Arbor instead. It was pathetic seeing all those empty seats in Miami. Just pathetic.
Maybe next year. I think that the empty seats were due to the delay of knowledge(Fans didn’t know who would play till 2 days before). But overall Ann Arbor might bring another record crowd if Barcelona FC comes.
To be honest Real and Barcelona are only popular with the Hispanic community. it is the English teams that are popular with every community. This is why the big house was more full of Man Utd fans.
The only mistake was playing the game in Miami a mostly Latino region of the USA. There seems to assumption in the USA that only Latino people like football and it just isn’t true. If final had been played anywhere else it would have sold out.
That’s not true. For the University of Michigan game, fans knew as early as January that the game would feature Man United and Real Madrid — six months notice.
For the game in Miami, fans didn’t know until Saturday night who would be playing on Monday — two days notice.
The other issue is that there is usually a large walk-up crowd to games in Miami, but due to Hurricane Bertha and the huge rainfall on Monday (which thankfully cleared up about 30 minutes before gametime), a lot of people decided to stay home.
But what happened the third place play off match this year? Last year that match was played.
They decided not to do the semi-final matches this year.
Now that this has been a success they need to move the Club World Cup here on a permanent basis. Crowds would be huge for the European, South America and Mexican clubs.
Any one knows the price that man united took for winning this championship? Or overall the price of this trophy?
I believe the winner was to make 2 million dollars.