August 6 – FIFA released a set of record-breaking facts and figures as Women’s World Cup 2023 moved into the last 16 knockout rounds at the weekend. Top of those stats is that more than 1,715,000 tickets have been sold for the tournament so far.
That figure easily beats the tournament’s ticket sales targets (initially 1.3 million sales before being upgraded to 1.5 million sales).
Looking at the 48 games played in the group stages, 1,222,839 fans attended matches, an average of 25,476 fans per game. This is a 29% increase on the 2019 World Cup in France.
FIFA reports that broadcast figures worldwide “have been overwhelmingly positive – with records broken across multiples countries on a near daily basis”. However the reports do not show a single broadcast viewing record broken in European markets where the time difference has placed most matches in the middle of the night and where the World Cup is now bumping up against the opening matches of domestic men’s league seasons.
However, with a potential of six of the last eight teams in the quarter finals coming from Europe, the viewing figures in Europe can be expected to increase.
Where FIFA has scored high is on digital platforms and social media where digital traffic numbers have beat figures for the entirety of the 2019 tournament in just 14 days, with 22 million unique users throughout the Group Stage.
On average, 2.4 million users are engaging with FIFA Women’s World Cup™ channels every day. On social, FIFA’s Women’s World Cup accounts passed 2019 engagements in five days, video views in six days, and impressions in seven days.
Group Stage Facts & Figures
Ticketing and Attendance
- After 48 matches, 1,222,839 fans have attended the Women’s World Cup 2023. This represents an average of 25,476 fans per match, and a 29% increase on attendance from France 2019 (first 48 matches of 2019 compared with first 48 matches of 2023).
- More than 1,715,000 tickets sold for the tournament, comfortably surpassing the tournament’s ticket sales targets (which was initially 1.3 million sales before being upgraded to 1.5 million sales).
- The record crowd for a football match in Aotearoa New Zealand – women’s or men’s – broken twice in the space of a fortnight. Match 1 between New Zealand and Norway set a new record attendance figure in Aotearoa (42,137), before this figure was eclipsed by Match 41 between Portugal and United States of America (42,958) just 12 days later.
- Tournament set the record attendance for a standalone women’s football match in Australia. 75,784 fans witnessed Australia against Republic of Ireland at Stadium Australia in Match 2.
- Bigger attendances increasingly often:
Australia & New Zealand 2023 (after 48 games): Three (3) matches with 45,000+ spectators, nine (9) matches with 35,000 – 45,000 spectators, and nine (9) matches with 25,000 – 35,000 spectators. o France 2019 (full tournament): Two (2) matches with 45,000+ spectators, four (4) matches with 35,000 – 45,000 spectators, and four (4) matches with 25,000 – 35,000 spectators.
Hospitality
- Interest in experiencing the Women’s World Cup in Hospitality is growing, with sales for Australia & New Zealand 2023 tracking 27% above France 2019, and 534% above Canada 2015.
- 5,258 guests attended Match 2 (Australia v Republic of Ireland) in Hospitality – the largest Hospitality attendance ever at a FIFA Women’s World Cup™. Only 18 matches at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ had a larger Hospitality attendance.
- With over two weeks to go to the Final, 5,426 Hospitality tickets have already been sold for Match 64. Sydney/Wangal is set to witness a record-breaking Final – the previous Hospitality record was 3,804 guests hosted at the Final of France 2019.
Broadcast
Australia
- Australia’s final Group Stage match against Canada delivered an average audience of 2.42 million viewers on Seven’s linear channel and digital platform 7Plus.
- The linear audience (2.16 million) was larger than any from a previous FIFA Women’s World Cup (over triple the previous high) and higher than any men’s FIFA World Cup audience since 2014.
- According to broadcaster Seven, the match reached 4.71 million Australians on broadcast and BVOD, becoming Seven’s most watched program so far in 2023. There were 260,000 viewers on 7plus, a record for an individual event on 7plus.
Aotearoa New Zealand
- Co-hosts New Zealand’s final Group Stage match of the tournament was simulcast on Prime and SKY Sport 1, with an average audience of 623,201 viewers.
- This was the highest FIFA Women’s World Cup match on record (surpassing the opening match of the tournament by 32%).
- Viewership for this match was also higher than any FIFA World Cup (men’s) combined match audience on record.
- The overall tournament reach across Sky Sport & PRIME is 1.88 million, which equates to 39% of the entire population.
Brazil
- Brazil’s opening match against Panama was simulcast live on TV Globo and SporTV, delivering a combined audience of 13.90 million viewers, 6.7% of the Brazilian TV universe.
- The combined audience was higher than any audience in the territory during the 2007, 2011 and 2015 Women’s World Cup editions (the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 delivered higher audiences in Brazil as a result of Brazil’s matches during that edition being aired during prime time slots).
- Caze TV (Casimiro’s YouTube and Twitch platforms) in the first week of the tournament alone reached 8.5 million people.
- Brazil’s second group match against France was a record, reaching 3.55 million viewers alone. The match is now the most watched women’s football match on YouTube worldwide.
Colombia
- Colombia’s first match of the tournament aired on Caracol & RCN, at 9pm local time on Tuesday, 25 July. The match was watched by 20.3% of the potential TV audience in the territory (projected national audience of 9.01 million viewers).
- The live match audience is over three times the previous top Women’s World Cup audience in the territory (2.84 million) and eclipses all audiences during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, except for the Final.
China
- 14.58 million viewers watched coverage of China’s opening match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ on CCTV5, more than for any FIFA Women’s World Cup™ audience in the territory since China PR hosted the competition in 2007.
- Over 150 million unique viewers have been reached by CCTV’s linear television coverage of the tournament (11.7% of the potential TV audience), with additional coverage airing on CCTV and iQIYI (Shinai) digital platforms.
- The China PR v England match alone reached 53.9 million viewers, the highest for any broadcast in any global market so far.
USA
- FOX reported that an average audience of 6.43 million watched USA v Netherlands on their platforms and channels, making it the most watched FIFA Women’s World Cup™ Group Stage match ever in the USA.
- Spanish language coverage NBC Universal’s channels/platforms earned a Total Audience Delivery of 1.51 million. This was also the most watched Women’s World Cup Group Stage match in USA Spanish language history, and second largest ever regardless of stage.
- FOX also report that the match was the most streamed Women’s World Cup Group Stage match in its history, whilst NBC Universal report their digital live match coverage was the most streamed FIFA Women’s World Cup match ever on Spanish language platforms in the USA.
Digital and Social
- FIFA has surpassed digital traffic for the entirety of the 2019 tournament in just 14 days, welcoming 22 million unique users throughout the Group Stage.
- On average, 2.4 million users are engaging with FIFA Women’s World Cup™ channels every day.
- On social, FIFA’s Women’s World Cup accounts passed 2019 engagements in five (5) days, video views in six (6) days, and impressions in seven (7) days.
- More than three (3) million hours of FIFA+ have been watched on new FAST (free ad-supported streaming television) channels alone. 14 million streams have been watched on FIFA+ across and apps and connected TVs, including live in selected territories, full match replays, and highlights.
- On both FAST and apps, FIFA+ is welcoming over 830,000 fans every day.
- The FIFA Women’s World Cup TikTok account almost doubled its following during the Group Stage, from 1.1 million followers on 19 July to more than two (2) million.
- The FIFA Play Zone has seen more than 350,000 unique visitors to engage with the wide range of games, predictors and more – an impressive 75% uplift on visitors by this stage in 2019.
- The online FIFA Panini Collection is welcoming 117,000 users every day.
FIFA Sound
- The tournament’s official song – ‘Do It Again’ by BENEE ft. Mallrat – has already achieved over one (1) million streams and has reached a total of 4.1 million people across 30 platform playlists.
- The song has also gone global, achieving regular plays across 75 radio stations worldwide.
FIFA Fan Festival
- Over 400,000 fans have visited the nine (9) FIFA Fan Festival™ sites in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand since kick-off on 20 July.
- The highest single day attendance across all nine FIFA Fan Festivals came on Saturday, 29 July when 53,962 fans watched matches.
- The highest single day attendance at a standalone FIFA Fan Festival came on the same day when 17,756 fans visited the Sydney/Gadigal FIFA Fan Festival™ at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour.
- FIFA Fan Festivals are expected to welcome the 500,000th visitor this weekend.
- 33,556 people have visited the special exhibition “Calling the Shots: Faces of Women’s Football” at the FIFA Museum presented by Hyundai at the FIFA Fan Festival™ in Sydney/Gadigal.
Licensing/Merchandise
- 63 FIFA Stores across the ten (10) Stadiums and nine (9) FIFA Fan Festivals – more touchpoints with fans throughout their FIFA Women’s World Cup™ journey than ever before. · In 2019 there was no retail presence at FIFA’s Fan Experience sites. In 2023, there is a FIFA Store in each FIFA Fan Festival™, with a two-story flagship store in Sydney/Gadigal.
- Scarves and beanies among the items with the highest demand.
On the pitch
- 126 goals scored (average 2.63 per game).
- 89 yellow cards (average 1.85 per game) and five (5) red cards (average 0.10 per game).
- The 2023 finals have seen teams from all six Confederations win a match for the first time in a FIFA Women’s World Cup™ tournament.
- When New Zealand defeated 1995 winners Norway in Match 1, an Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) representative won a match for the first time in FIFA Women’s World Cup™ history.
- Nigeria are the first African nation to complete a group campaign in the FWWC without losing a match.
- Australia, Colombia, and Switzerland won their group for the first time.
- Colombia became just the second South American team to win a group in FIFA Women’s World Cup™ history, after Brazil.
- Only one of the four former winners (Germany, Japan, Norway and USA) won their group – Japan won Group C, Norway and the USA came second, and Germany finished third.
- New Zealand, Philippines, Zambia, Portugal, Jamaica, South Africa, and Morocco each registered their first win (or wins) at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
- Barbra Banda (Zambia) scored the 1,000th goal in FIFA Women’s World Cup history against Costa Rica.
- Morocco became the first African team to win two successive FIFA Women’s World Cup™ matches, and the first to keep successive clean sheets.
- Debutantes Portugal became the only the second team to stop USA scoring in 27 Group Stage matches after Sweden in 2015 held them to a goalless draw.
- Only three teams went through the Group Stage without conceding a single goal – Jamaica, Japan and Switzerland.
- Brazil had scored in 23 successive group-stage matches until Jamaica held them without scoring to eliminate them – the first time Brazil had not scored in a group match since 1991 against Sweden.
- A truly global round of 16 – teams representing all continents have advanced to the knockout phase.
- There are three representatives from Africa in the knockout stage for the first time – Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa. The only other time there was more than one was in 2019 when Cameroon and Nigeria reached the knockout stage.
- Jamaica, South Africa, and Morocco qualified for the knockout stage for the first time.
- Jamaica have become just the third team from Concacaf to qualify for the knockout stage in FIFA Women’s World Cup™ history following USA and Canada. FIFA Women’s World Cup
Team Services & Competition Management
- 30 of the 32 competing teams held pre-tournament training camps in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
- In Aotearoa New Zealand, 16 teams arrived across 70 different flights.
- In Australia, 16 teams arrived on 83 different flights. · FIFA facilitated 410 training sessions throughout the Group Stage, with 88 official training sessions in Venue Specific Training Sites and 322 training sessions in Team Base Camp Training Sites.
- 32 Open to Public Training Sessions held across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, engaging over 7,000 community members and over 300 media.
- 2,050 cones provided to teams in Australia (including referees), and 1,600 cones provided to teams in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- 1,536 adidas footballs provided to teams for training purposes and 1,280 Official Match Balls used throughout the Group Stage.
- 6,748 bibs for teams and match operations.
Volunteers
- 69,196 volunteer applications.
- Approximately 5,000 volunteers – 2,500 volunteers contributed to France 2019, with 2,100 volunteers assisting at Canada 2015.
- 95% of volunteers from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, 5% of volunteers international.
- Volunteers from 68 nations and representing all six FIFA Confederations, including nations such as Tonga (OFC), Jordan (AFC), Egypt (CAF), Poland (UEFA), Peru (CONMEBOL), and Costa Rica (Concacaf).
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734917159labto1734917159ofdlr1734917159owedi1734917159sni@n1734917159osloh1734917159cin.l1734917159uap1734917159