This year's FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is on track to become the most attended standalone women's sporting event ever with more than 1 million tickets sold. But there are still concerns over crowd numbers here.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said this morning the ninth edition of the Women's World Cup, which starts on July 20, has sold 1,032,884 tickets, surpassing the previous tournament in France in 2019.
"The future is women, thanks to the fans for supporting what will be the greatest FIFA Women's World Cup ever!" Infantino said in a statement.
"The momentum is building in the host countries and across the globe, and I look forward to seeing you there to witness the stars of women's football shine on the world stage."
It comes after FIFA announced last week the release of 250,000 more tickets for the tournament although the majority of sales to date have been in Australia.
FIFA last week revealed New Zealand sales were just 24% of the tickets sold to date.
New Zealand will host 29 of the tournament's 64 matches across Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin, including all of defending champions USA's pool matches.
With booming sales across the Tasman, FIFA also announced Australia's opening match against Ireland will be played at a different venue — the 83,500-capacity Stadium Australia — the tournament's largest stadium, due to high public demand for tickets.
The change allows up to 100,000 fans to attend the World Cup's opening games, with the match between co-hosts New Zealand and Norway taking place hours before in Auckland.
- Additional reporting by AAP
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