Record crowd numbers set for another Matildas sell-out

Getting a ticket to see the Matildas is like winning a prize as the mania around Australia’s national heroes continues.

The Matildas juggernaut continues with a 14th consecutive home sellout looming to cement their status as the most-loved team in Australia even amid superstar captain Sam Kerr’s off-field troubles.

After 30,000 tickets were snapped up in a pre-sale for the second of two Olympic send-off clashes against China in Sydney, the remaining tickets went fast on Monday hours after gun striker Mary Fowler opened her goalscoring account for Manchester City in the Women’s Super League in England.

Having already sold all tickets to the first game in Adelaide, fans quickly snapped up those on offer for the second clash at the 80,000 seat Accor Stadium on June 3.

It comes after a packed house of 54,120 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne watched coach Tony Gustavsson’s team secure their ticket to Paris with an emphatic 10-0 drubbing of Uzbekistan.

That huge win ame without injured captain Kerr, who is also facing charges in the UK after she allegedly called a police officer a “white bastard”. Kerr will also miss the Olympics after suffering an ACL injury in January.

41. Fowler fires into the net to give us our second, following a cross from Coombs! 🙌

🔵 0-2 🩵 #ManCityhttps://t.co/hebVR8HCag

— Man City Women (@ManCityWomen) March 17, 2024

The crowd numbers attending Matildas games have swelled since they garnered the support of the nation at the FIFA World Cup in 2023 where they fell agonisingly short of a spot in the final in Sydney.

Across 14 Matildas matches in Australia in 2023, 580,930 fans attended, a stark comparison to the grand total of 19,674 who attended four home games in 2020.

Australia’s three games at Accor Stadium during the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023, against the Republic of Ireland, Denmark and England, drew 227, 352 fans pack into the stadium to support the team.

The average attendance for Matildas home games has jumped from that low of 4,919 to 41,495 in 2020 and with packed stadiums for the two upcoming matches that average will increase again this year.

Two clashes against China will both be the last time for Australian fans to see the Matildas before their quest to add another medal in Paris, as well as the last opportunities for Gustavsson to determine his 18-player Olympic squad.

Originally published as Record crowd numbers set for another Matildas sell-out