Record crowd witness Matildas World Cup opener vs Ireland
The Matildas have shattered the record books as fans flooded through the gates to catch their Australian heroes in action.
A record crowd has turned out to watch the Matildas prevail in their 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup opener against Ireland, a thrilling 1-0 win without captain Sam Kerr.
75,784 fans turned out to watch Australia take down Ireland, making it the biggest Matildas crowd ever and the ninth largest women’s football attendance of all time.
It puts the Matildas firmly above State of Origin, with Stadium Australia recently playing host to Game 3 of this year’s Origin series in front of 75,342 fans.
The crowds piled into Olympic Park over four hours before kickoff, with fans packing into the the activation zones and bars around ahead of the match, which marks the first Australian World Cup fixture on home soil for either men or women.
The record crowd broke the record that was set only six days ago when Australia took on France in their final World Cup hitout.
It also topples the previous all time record for a women’s soccer match in Australia after 58,432 fans packed into the MCG to watch Sweden vs Brazil.
The figure makes it the highest attendance this century, moving past the opening match of the 2011 World Cup which saw 73,680 fans jam in Olympiastadion in Berlin.
It becomes the fifth highest women’s World Cup attendance of all-time with all others being recorded during the 1999 World Cup in America.
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.”
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.
“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.”
Socceroos’ ‘catastrophic’ effort against China
Tony Popovic’s Socceroos have come in for some heavy criticism after a disappointing start to their World Cup qualifier against China.
What the road to 2026 looks like for Popovic’s Socceroos
With change afoot for the struggling Socceroos there is no time to waste on their mission to reach the 2026 World Cup. Find out what’s gone wrong and how they can still reach North America here.
‘Out of gas’: Socceroos speak out as Arnie quits in WC shock
Australia is on the hunt for a new coach - and already has several names in mind - after longtime mentor Graham Arnold quit in the midst of a dismal start to their World Cup qualification.