Women World Cup Australia’s first match changed venue… 100,000 spectators expected on the opening day
Australia’s first stadium, co-host of the 2023 Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup, has been changed. FIFA expects more spectators to participate in the match by hosting it in a larger venue.
FIFA announced on the morning of the 31st (Korea Standard Time) that it will change Australia’s first Group B stadium from Sydney Football Stadium with 45,500 seats to Stadium Australia with 83,500 seats.
FIFA explained, “Stadium Australia was only going to play tournament matches, but considering the considerable interest in tickets for the match, we decided to move to a larger stadium.” Sydney Football Stadium and Stadium Australia are both located in Sydney, Australia, so there will be little inconvenience for tourists.
With the decision, FIFA expects to attract more spectators on the opening day of the Australian-New Zealand Women’s World Cup. FIFA’s mission is to organize the biggest and best women’s World Cup in history this year, FIFA Secretary-General Patma Samura said. “We have decided to allow more than 100,000 fans to attend the opening day.”
Australia will play their first group match against Ireland at 8pm local time on 20 July. The official opening match will be the first Group A match between New Zealand and Norway at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, an hour earlier on the same day. Eden Park has 48,000 seats, and about 130,000 people will participate in the opening day if full spectators are mobilized in the first match between Australia and New Zealand.