2023 Women's World Cup opening match tickets sold out: FIFA
2 Min Read
The chief executive of the Women's World Cup says only a "few thousand" tickets are left for New Zealand's opening game.
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USA players celebrate with the trophy after the France 2019 Women's World Cup football final match between the USA and the Netherlands, at the Lyon Stadium in Lyon, France, on July 7, 2019 (AFP)
A senior FIFA official told AFP on Tuesday that co-hosts Australia will play their opening game of next month's Women's World Cup in front of a full house.
Dave Beeche, chief executive of the Women's World Cup, confirmed that tickets for Australia's opener against Ireland on July 20 have sold out at Sydney's Stadium Australia, which can hold around 80,000 fans.
"There is currently nothing available," Beeche said.
The FIFA official also expected a capacity crowd the same day in Auckland where tournament co-hosts New Zealand launch their World Cup campaign against Norway.
"It's going to be a massive day for women's football," he said.
With less than 25 days until kick-off, the chief executive indicated that only a "few thousand" tickets are left for New Zealand's opening game at Eden Park, where capacity will be just under 40,000.
"Yes, definitely" Beeche replied when asked whether the Auckland stadium would be sold out for the opener, despite fears about the tournament's low ticket sales in New Zealand.
Football's governing body FIFA has said around 1.1 million tickets have been sold for the 64 matches in Australia and New Zealand.
FIFA's head of women's football Sarai Bareman has voiced concern about low World Cup ticket sales in New Zealand.
Beeche highlighted that 270,000 tickets had so far been sold in New Zealand while 830,000 in Australia.
He explained that those unequal numbers reflect the population sizes of Australia, where 26 million people live, and New Zealand, which is home to five million.
Read more: FIFA predicts 2023 women's World Cup will be 'watershed' moment
