Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023: Football Ferns win over Norway attracts biggest football TV audience in 20 years

Hannah Wilkinson of the Football Ferns celebrates the opening goal of the Fifa Women's World Cup. Photo / Photosport

New Zealand has got football fever, with almost two in every five Kiwis watching the women’s Fifa World Cup opener on Thursday.

According to Fifa, 39.2 per cent of New Zealanders tuned in across Sky TV and various free-to-air options for the opening 1-0 win over Norway, stating it is the highest TV audience for a football match in this country for more than 20 years.

That would put it above the All Whites’ second-leg victory over Bahrain in 2009 in Wellington, which booked the New Zealand men’s side their first World Cup appearance since 1982.

The audience for co-hosts Australia’s 1-0 win over Ireland (also on Thursday) peaked at 2.29 million Australians with 46.2 percent of Aussies tuning it at some point, according to Fifa. More than 75,784 went to the game at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.

Kiwis and Aussies haven’t just been sitting in front of the TV, with big crowds across the opening three days of action.

Another strong crowd turned up to Eden Park today with 41,107 in attendance for USA’s 3-0 win over Vietnam, following the 42,137 who went to the opening game on Thursday.

A fan cheers on the USA ahead of their World Cup clash against Vietnam at Eden Park. Photo / Michael Craig

With 13,711 in Dunedin for Swizterland’s 3-0 win over the Philippines and 22,966 at the Spain-Costa Rica encounter in Wellington yesterday, a total of 119,921 fans have been to the opening four matches in New Zealand.

For yesterday’s games in Dunedin and Wellington, Fifa gave away 5,000 free tickets earlier in the month.

Hamilton hosts its first game tonight when world number 11 Japan play Zambia (77) in their Group C clash.

AD The biggest women’s sporting event has landed, get patriotic at tab.co.nz. Bet responsibly.

Fifa hasn’t put up the sold-out sign on the Football Ferns’ next pool game against the Philippines in Wellington just yet, with the official ticketing website saying “low availability” with tickets for wheelchair users the only option. There are no longer tickets available for their final pool match against Switzerland game in Dunedin on July 30.

According to reports, the remaining tickets for those two pool matches were snapped up minutes after full-time of the win over Norway.

But there are plenty of other games across the New Zealand venues of Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin.

The USA clash against the Netherlands in Wellington, a rematch of the 2019 final, on July 27 is a sellout though.