Poor attendance at U20 World Cup marks low point for Turkish hopes

Fan turnouts for tournament, that ended late on Saturday, may have dented nation's plans for future events.

Uruguay's Diego Laxalt, right, in action against France's Dimitri Foulquier during the Fifa Under 20 World Cup final on Saturday. Poor attendance at all the matches may hurt Turkey's chances for hosting the 2020 Olympics and other big sporting events.Show less

The record-low attendance at the Fifa Under 20 World Cup could damage Turkey's chances of hosting major tournaments, including the 2020 Olympics and the 2024 European Championship, it has been revealed.

Ahead of Saturday's final and third place play-off encounter, the turnout had averaged only 5,230 spectators over 50 matches, by far the lowest figure in the 36-year history of the competition.

The next lowest was an average of 9,667 in the Netherlands eight years ago.

Jim Boyce, the chairman of the Fifa tournament organising committee, called the many empty seats "one negative point."

"Turkey has proved that they can organise very smoothly from all other aspects of a major competition," Boyce said. "So I honestly hope that does not have an adverse effect on the future. But it is still disappointing."

President Servet Yardimci of the local organising committee announced an investigation into the poor turnout.

"We are working on this issue. This is a very disappointing result, there must be reasons for this," Yardimci said. "We are trying to find out the reasons and how we can learn a very important lesson."

Before competition had begun Boyce said the 23-day event was a showcase for Turkey and its potential to host major tournaments, warning that high crowds were expected.

"It's very important the Turkish football public come out and give great support to this tournament," Boyce had said last month.

The low turnout could not only affect Istanbul's chances in its battle against Madrid and Tokyo for the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, but also Turkey's possible bid for Euro 2024.

"I know that they are keen in the future to host a European Championship and, who knows, also the World Cup," Boyce said. "I know how passionate the Turkish football fans are. But for some reason we did not get in the anticipated number of fans at the stadiums."

Also, Boyce mentioned worldwide TV coverage "showing very small numbers of people attending. I don't think that helps the situation."

For the national football federation (TFF), the U20 World Cup has been "the largest organisation in Turkish sports history," according to Yardimci.

"This was a very important trial for the TFF, it could be very important for 2024," Yardimci said. "We had the lowest number of spectators although we presented children and families with free tickets. We will find the reason."

Yardimci said the tournament's timing in summer may have kept fans away from the stadiums in the seven host cities.

"They do like their own club teams rather than football," Yardimci said. "They are not showing their interest in football as a whole."

For Fifa, the low attendance put a stain on an otherwise successful tournament."Football has been the winner," Boyce said. "There have been some fantastic games, last-minute goals, penalty shootouts, and an average 2.98 goals per game.

"The coaches deserve a lot of credit, they have encouraged their teams to really play football. The people who didn't turn up, missed something."

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