Ticket sales for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand have set a new record, one day out from the start of tournament.
Close to 1.4 million tickets have been purchased for the 64 matches running until 20 August, surpassing the record total for the tournament eight years ago in Canada.
The Matildas’ three group matches are effectively sold out, although the Fifa ticketing website shows “low availability” – mostly wheelchair access tickets – for the 27 July match against Nigeria in Brisbane.
Few tickets remain for England’s three group matches. Interest has also been strong for the United States’ games, though several categories are available for the reigning world champions’ game against Portugal on 1 August at the 43,217-capacity Eden Park in Auckland.
Ticket allocations for all five matches at Stadium Australia in Sydney, including the final on 20 August have been all but exhausted. The former Olympic stadium at Homebush holds just over 80,000 fans, but Fifa said on Wednesday its capacity for the tournament is 75,784.
The 2015 tournament in Canada sold 1,353,506 tickets, setting a new record at the time.
Smaller stadiums at the 2019 tournament in France meant only 1.3 million tickets were available. Fifa claimed over 1.2 million were sold, but other counts have the attendance number closer to 1.1 million.
Both the French and Canadian tournaments involved 52 matches, while the expanded draw in 2023 means tickets to 64 matches are available; 29 are in New Zealand and 35 in Australia.
20,000 free tickets to matches in New Zealand were issued last week in response to slow ticket sales, and prominent Kiwis including former prime minister Jacinda Ardern have used their profile to urge people to attend the matches.
Fifa’s chief women’s football officer, Sarai Bareman, said on Tuesday more than 1.5 million people are expected to attend the tournament across the two countries. At that stage, 1.3 million tickets had been sold, including 350,000 in New Zealand.
“That is a huge uptake for New Zealanders for a major sporting event,” she said.
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The highest average attendance for a Women’s World Cup was 37,319 for USA 1999, followed by China in 2007 which 37,218. In France 2019, 40% of attendees were foreign residents supporting their teams.
Based on pre-tournament estimates, it is unlikely this tournament will have as high a share of international visitors.
New South Wales roads minister John Graham said on Monday he expected 16,000 international visitors to come to the state over the course of the month, based on figures from Destination NSW.
According to the NSW government on Tuesday, 79,000 tickets sold in Sydney – less than one fifth of tickets – had gone to international fans.
People from 182 different countries have bought tickets.
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July 19, 2023 at 01:24PM
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Women’s World Cup ticket sales break record with close to 1.4m sold on eve of 2023 tournament - The Guardian
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