Featured Image: Chris Leipelt on Unsplash
FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand ticket sales have set a new record, with the tournament getting underway today (Thursday).
The start of the tournament was slightly overshadowed by a shooting in Auckland earlier in the day which left three people dead.
FIFA said that it had been informed the shooting was an isolated incident and confirmed that the opening match would go ahead as planned.
New Zealand went on to win its opening game against Norway in front of a 42,137-strong crowd at Eden Park, which is a record for a football match in the country. Fellow host Australia also beat its opening opponent, Republic of Ireland.
Across the entire tournament, some 1.4 million tickets have been purchased surpassing the record total for the Women’s World Cup in Canada eight years ago. Some 1,353,506 tickets were sold for the Canada edition.
Australia Women’s three group matches are mostly sold out, and few tickets remain for England’s three group matches. Interest has also been high for games featuring the US. Ticket allocations for all five matches at Accor Stadium in Sydney have almost all sold out.
However, New Zealand’s sales have been more sluggish and tournament partner Xero even offered 20,000 free tickets to drum up support in the country.
According to the NSW Government, some 79,000 tickets sold in Sydney had been snapped up by international fans. People from 182 different countries have purchased tickets for the Women’s World Cup.
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