FIFA probing empty seats for Uruguay-Egypt World Cup duel

Moscow  :  World football's governing body FIFA has launched an investigation to determine why there were thousands of empty seats for the World Cup match between Egypt and Uruguay in Yekaterinburg on Friday.

More than 6,000 seats -- around 20 per cent of the venue's capacity -- were unoccupied during the Group A match which saw Uruguay win 1-0 after a 90th-minute header from Atletico Madrid defender Jose Jimenez, reported Xinhua news agency.

"We can confirm that the official attendance for the match between Egypt and Uruguay in Ekaterinburg is 27,015. The Fifa World Cup stadium capacity is 33,061," a FIFA spokesman said.

"The fact that the actual attendance is lower than the number of allocated tickets can be due to different factors, including 'no shows' on match day, which Fifa is currently investigating."