SYDNEY (Reuters) – The ninth Women’s World Cup became the best attended on Sunday, when 27,706 fans packed into Melbourne Rectangular Stadium for Sweden’s penalty shootout win over the United States in the last 16 to take the tournament total to 1,367,037.
The previous record was the 1,353,506 that attended the 24-team tournament in Canada in 2015, although double-header matches were included in that schedule.
The last Women’s World Cup in France four years ago attracted 1,131,312 fans to 52 individual matches with an average crowd of 21,756.
The average attendance so far this year was 26,289 for the 52 games completed as of Sunday, a figure that is likely to rise with sellout crowds expected to flock to the bigger stadiums for the final 12 matches of the tournament.
The highest average attendance at a Women’s World Cup was 37,218 in China in 2007, where 16 teams played 32 matches – half the number being played in Australia and New Zealand.
The biggest crowd at the tournament so far was the 75,784 at Stadium Australia for the co-hosts’ opener against Ireland, which could be eclipsed as early as Monday when the Matildas take on Denmark in their last 16 clash at the same stadium.
The smallest crowd was the 6,992 at Dunedin Stadium in New Zealand for Japan’s 2-0 opening win over Costa Rica on July 26.
There were initial concerns about ticket sales in New Zealand and FIFA gave 20,000 away, but the largest stadium in the country, Auckland’s Eden Park, has since hosted two record crowds for a soccer match in the island nation.
The tournament has already set a record for ticket sales at a Women’s World Cup. As of last Friday, 1,715,000 tickets had been sold, easily surpassing the initial target of 1.3 million.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Alex Richardson)
