Fans watch the semifinal between Poland and Germany outside the Spodek Arena in Katowice
Lausanne, Switzerland, September 21, 2014 – Poland has already set a record for the number of fans attending games at the FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship Poland 2014, but the number of fans outside the arenas has also been impressive.
More than a half million fans – 551,735 – have watched the matches so far, smashing the previous records in the competition. In Italy four years ago, the total was 339,324, while in Japan in 2006 it was 298,352.
The first round alone topped the numbers achieved by the World Championship in Italy four years ago.
The average number of spectators per match ahead of the finals was 5,517. Not surprisingly, Poland have been the most popular team with a total of 158,234 fans attending their games, 60,000 more than the second-ranked team, Serbia.
For the semifinal game between Poland and Germany on Saturday, not only was it full to capacity inside the Spodek Arena, outside there were so many fans they had to close the main roundabout in front of the arena to automobile traffic.
Even more are expected when Poland face Brazil for the title on Sunday night.