Sydney lights up ahead of Matildas World Cup opener vs. Ireland

Sydney has lit up in celebration ahead of the Matildas’ season opener against Ireland, with more than 75,000 fans expected to pack in to watch.

Australian cities have lit up in celebration of the Matildas’ World Cup opener against Ireland, with Sydney coming together in celebration.

Fans have been lining up at Accor Stadium (known as Stadium Australia for the duration of the tournament for sponsorship purposes), as early as 4pm for an 8pm kick-off, with the pubs surrounding Olympic Park filled to the brim.

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Sydney’s Central Station was lit up in green and gold in celebration, with trains coming into the station packed with supporters in national colours.

Code Sports’ Lachlan McKirdy took to social media to document the fever-pitch excitement, noting there were even knock-off Matildas scarves being sold at Central station (as is common in Europe for major competition fixtures).

“The hype is absolutely real,” McKirdy wrote.

“This is insane. A FIFA World Cup is about to start on home soil.

“Don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people at Olympic Park this long before kick-off.”

Don’t think I’ve ever seen this many people at Olympic Park this long before kick-off. #FIFAWWCpic.twitter.com/B2Y6mGTam2

— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) July 20, 2023

Wilkinson just scored for New Zealand against Norway and the crowd here in Sydney has gone nuts!! #FIFAWWCpic.twitter.com/nPjxv7uUMD

— Lachlan McKirdy (@LMcKirdy7) July 20, 2023

Train is packed with nothing but green and gold! How bloody good. pic.twitter.com/NkjnR4ymSR

— Matt Vandenberg (@M1D3V) July 20, 2023

Packed out pubs exploded in celebration as 25th-ranked New Zealand scored an entirely unexpected goal to take the lead before taking down 12th-ranked Norway in the tournament opener in Auckland.

It wasn’t only Matildas fans that were bringing the atmosphere to Olympic Park, with Sydney’s significant Irish population also packing out.

The eastern suburbs of Sydney are particularly known for their Irish immigrant population, with content producer Matt Vandenberg reporting on social media that the Tea Gardens Hotel in Bondi Junction was packed at 10:30am.

Irish fans ahead of the Matildas' season opener at Stadium Australia. Photo: Daanyal Saeed

“It‘s full of Irish fans wearing green and drinking lots of pints of Guinness,” Vandenberg wrote.

News.com.au spoke to a set of Irish fans at Stadium Australia who had travelled the previous day directly from Dublin via Dallas, a combined 26 hours in the air.

“I don’t even know what day it is,” Irish superfan Majella Egan told news.com.au.

“We all coach, we’ve come from Cork, Derry, Waterford, Westmead and Dublin.”

Asked about how they were feeling about the result against a strong Matildas outfit, Egan said she was “quietly nervous”.

The rest of the group concurred, saying they would be “happy with a draw”.

The Matildas’ tournament opener gets underway at 8pm AEST against Ireland at Stadium Australia, with their second game against Nigeria on July 27, and their final game against Canada on July 31.