Australia was buzzing with the Matilda’s recent win over France in the FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-finals in Brisbane. It’s the first time Australia has made the semi-finals, adding yet another fantastic accolade to a growing list of world records and firsts for women’s sport.
The Matildas’ semi-final against England will kick off tonight at 7:30pm SA time at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
While waiting to cheer on the Matildas, read through some of the latest fantastic records and statistics:
Longest Shootout
The Australia v France quarter final game had the longest shootout in World Cup history — men’s or women’s — with 10 rounds, and Australia winning 7-6. The previous longest shootout in a Women’s World Cup was the Sweden-USA shootout this year with seven rounds. The previous longest shootout in a Men’s World Cup was a semi-final between West Germany and France in the 1982 and the 1994 quarterfinal between Sweden and Romania, both with 6 rounds.
Most Attended Women’s Sporting Event In History
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ is poised to become one of the most attended women’s sporting events in history. As at August 4th, 1.7m tickets had been sold in 2023, smashing the previous Women’s World Cup ticket record of 1.35m set by Canada in 2015.
Biggest Attendance in the Tournament’s History
Following the first two matches in the Round of 16, the 2023 Women’s World Cup has now set a new record for the biggest attendance in the tournament’s history. A total of 1,733,578 fans have been to the first 60 matches.
The previous best attended Women’s World Cup in history came in the 2015 edition in Canada, with a total attendance of 1,353,506.
The largest attendance so far has been Australia’s opener in Stadium Australia, where 75,784 saw the Matildas’ victory over the Republic of Ireland as well as their win over Denmark on the Round of 16 with the exact same figure. It was a record home crowd for a women’s football match in Australia, the largest at the Women’s World Cup this century, and the third largest in history.
The highest attendance at a single Women’s World Cup match was in 1999, with 90,185 attendees in Pasadena to watch the third placed playoff between Brazil and Norway, followed by the final, in which USA defeated China on penalties. The next biggest crowd was in the same tournament’s opening fixture, with 78,972 in attendance for a double header of Brazil vs Mexico and USA vs Denmark.
Biggest Crowd in NZ’s Football History
42,137 attended New Zealand’s opener, representing the biggest crowd in the country’s football history — men’s or women’s.
Jersey Sales Smashed Men’s World Cup Numbers
Nike, Football Australia’s apparel sponsor, has revealed the Matildas sold more jerseys before the Women’s World Cup had started than the Socceroos did during and since the men’s World Cup in Qatar. The Matildas’ jerseys for this FIFA Women’s World Cup are outselling the Socceroos’ jersey from the FIFA Men’s World Cup two to one. Retailer, and Football Australia partner, Rebel Sport reported that the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ is one of the best supported major sporting events that they have ever seen.
Most Watched Program in 2023
The Matildas Monday night’s victory over Canada was the most watched program on the Seven network in 2023 with a national broadcast reach of over 5.32 million Australians on broadcast and BVOD.
Record Broadcast Numbers
There have been record broadcast audience numbers, with the Seven network announcing that their coverage of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, had reached 8.02 million broadcast viewers plus 1.14 million on their streaming platform 7plus. More than 106 million minutes of content had been on 7plus to date.
The second week of group stages is the largest ever week of audience on Optus Sport surpassing the first week’s previous high.
That result comes on the back of the Australia vs Canada match, the 17th biggest football game ever – Men’s or Women’s – on Optus Sport, out of 6,000 in total streamed games over the last seven years.
Matildas have broken TV ratings records, beating AFL grand final and Origin
Matildas have broken TV ratings records, beating AFL grand final and Origin. Australian team’s match against Denmark in the Women’s World Cup round of 16 sets new record for Channel Seven, with average of 3.56 million people. The average audience for Monday’s match was higher than every National Rugby League grand final and every Origin since 2016, and all but two of the AFL grand finals in the same period, according to analysis by sports industry blogger Jason Lassey.
Building on that, The Matildas cemented their standing as national heroes, delivering the highest rating TV sport program of the past decade.
The Matildas’ thrilling victory over France at Brisbane Stadium in a 7-6 penalty shootout reached more than 7.2 million people (preliminary data) on Seven and 7plus, with an estimated average audience during the game of 4.17 million. The estimated average includes the game’s overtime, which was not captured in the preliminary OzTAM broadcast audience numbers for the game*.
The Matildas v France game’s adjusted average audience of 4.17 million included a national broadcast audience of 3.69 million viewers on Seven (2.62 million in the capital cities) plus 472,000 viewers on 7plus. It is the #1 TV program of the year.
The 472,000 viewers on 7plus makes the Matildas v France game the biggest streaming event ever seen in Australia.
Record Streaming Numbers
Monday’s Matilda’s game had 384,000 viewers on Channel Seven’s streaming service 7plus, also setting a record for an individual event on the platform.
These numbers are all set to rise, with last night’s epic game between France and Australia. We’ll update the stats as soon as they’re released!
In the meantime, GO MATILDAS!
You can catch them take on England in the Semi Finals on Wednesday night at 8pm.
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