The deciding match of the 1950 World Cup, Uruguay against Brazil at the Maracana in Rio, drew the biggest crowd ever recorded at a football match. About how many people were there?
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Answer
About 200,000 spectators
Brazil only needed a draw and lost 2 to 1. The shock was so deep that the national team abandoned its white shirts and later adopted the famous yellow.
How to estimate it
A historical attendance cannot be derived, but it can be bounded. The largest stadiums today seat about 100,000 people. In 1950 most of the Maracana was standing terraces, and standing crowds pack about twice as densely as seated ones. 100,000 × 2 = 200,000. Official ticket sales were 173,850, and with gatecrashers the crowd is usually put at about 200,000 spectators.
Source: FIFA; Guinness World Records (173,850 paid, about 200,000 estimated)
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