The Confederations cup is proving to be extremely successful according to the latest TV viewing figures released by FIFA. The competition was started in 1992 and it has come a long way since then. It was a four-team tournament back then. There are still two matches left in the competition and it is already the second highest in terms of viewing figures. There was a real danger of the competition being suspended by FIFA due to several protests in Brazil, but the international football committee has decided to go ahead with the tournament and it is proving to be a great success.
The remaining two matches are expected to bring in a lot of viewers especially due to the importance. The third place play-off match between Italy and Uruguay will be followed by the final between Brazil and Spain. As the home team is involved in the final, FIFA has said that it expects record viewing figures for the final. The semi-final between Spain and Italy brought in just over 12.5 million viewers, which is better than the 10 million viewers for the 2010 World Cup semi-final.
The Confederations cup is proving to be incredibly popular in South America due to the involvement of teams like Uruguay and Brazil in the latter stages of the competition.
“FIFA has come out of this stronger. Football has played a positive part here and given emotion. When we say football connects people, it connected people in the stadium, perhaps unfortunately it connected people in the street. I can understand this social unrest, absolutely, but on the other hand, football brings at this time to the whole continent these emotions and hope,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter after announcing the viewing figures.
Attendances for the matches have also been extremely encouraging according to FIFA.