Live sites open for Matildas vs. England Lionesses semi-final

More Australians than ever will be able to watch the action of the Australia vs. England World Cup semi-final with more places to watch the game.

More Australians than ever will be able to watch the action of the Australia v. England World Cup semifinal with more places to watch the game. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/ Monique Harmer

Football fans will be able to gather at multiple locations across the country to soak up the atmosphere during the semi-final clash between the Matildas and England.

The highly anticipated match will take place at 8pm on Wednesday in Sydney, hosted at Stadium Australia, with just under 80,000 people expected to attend.

For those not lucky enough to grab a ticket to the game there are plenty of locations to watch the match surrounded by fellow fans.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has announced that Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta and Sydney Football Stadium in Moore Park will be opened to the public so that thousands of Australians can watch the match together.

Those stadiums are in addition to the FIFA Fan Festival hosted at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour, which has seen more than 202,000 attendees enjoy games so far in the contest.

More than 200,000 people have gathered at the FIFA Fan Festival in Darling Harbour for games so far. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/ Monique Harmer

Even bigger crowds are anticipated for Wednesday’s match. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/ Monique Harmer

Minns said that he wanted to ensure that “as many families as possible” could watch the blockbuster event alongside other Australians.

“The Matildas run at this FIFA World Cup has captured the nation; their quarter-final win was the highest rating TV event since Cathy Freeman’s 400m gold medal run at the Sydney Olympic Games,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said.

“We’re opening up more big screens at Western Sydney Stadium and the Sydney Football Stadium - we want to give NSW every chance to break that viewing record.

All eyes will be on star Sam Kerr in the semi-final clash. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

Sydney is not the only capital that has live sites set up so that Australians can gather together to support the national sides, with Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth all having their own FIFA Fan Festivals or similar set ups.

Full list of live sites here:

• Sydney: Tumbalong Park (FIFA FAN Festival), CommBank Stadium, Allianz Stadium, North Sydney Oval, Mackey Park, outside Stadium Australia
• Melbourne – Federation Square (FIFA Fan Festival), AAMI Park
• Brisbane – Riverside Green, South Bank (FIFA Fan Festival)
• Adelaide – Festival Plaza (FIFA Fan Festival), Memorial Drive
• Perth – Forrest Place (FIFA Fan Festival)

The Matildas quarter-final game against France pulled the biggest audience for a sport event in a decade with an average of 4.17 million Australians expected to have watched. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Josie Hayden

For those trying to find tickets to the actual game, it may be a tough ask with limited resale options available on FIFA’s official site for the match while hospitality packages for the match are sold out.

On Monday afternoon there was a single child ticket up for grabs on resale.

Tickets are on sale for Tuesdays semi-final between Sweden and Spain with regular tickets between $60-110 each, while resale has not begun for the World Cup Grand Final.

Originally published as Live sites open for Matildas vs. England Lionesses semi-final