Atlanta United breaks its own MLS attendance record

Atlanta United fans Miguel Gallardo (from left), Ricardo Goncalves, Claudio Magana, and Miguel Ortiz cheer after Croatia scores a goal while watching the World Cup final on the halo board in Mercedes-Benz Stadium before their team takes on the Seattle Sounders in a MLS soccer game on Sunday, July 15, 2018, in Atlanta. Croatia, the crowd favorite, fell 4-2 to France. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Atlanta United fans Miguel Gallardo (from left), Ricardo Goncalves, Claudio Magana, and Miguel Ortiz cheer after Croatia scores a goal while watching the World Cup final on the halo board in Mercedes-Benz Stadium before their team takes on the Seattle Sounders in a MLS soccer game on Sunday, July 15, 2018, in Atlanta. Croatia, the crowd favorite, fell 4-2 to France. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Atlanta United broke its own MLS single-game attendance mark with an announced 72,243 tickets sold and distributed for Sunday’s game against Seattle at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The game approached in attendance the World Cup final between France and Croatia. The game, won 4-2 by France, had a reported attendance of 78,011 in Moscow. Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened at 10:30 a.m. so that supporters of Atlanta United and Seattle could watch the World Cup game.

Atlanta United has the five highest single-game attendance marks in MLS history:

72,243 vs. Seattle on July 15, 2018

72,035 vs. D.C. United on March 11, 2018

71,932 vs. Orlando City on June 30, 2018

71,874 vs. Toronto on Oct. 22, 2017

70,425 vs. Orlando City on Sept. 16, 2017

The franchise set an MLS record last season with an average attendance of 48,200.

It also set a single-game playoff record (67,221) against Columbus on Oct. 26, 2017.