Fifa Women’s World Cup boss unconcerned by dismal crowd numbers at playoff tournament

Chile supporters during the Fifa play-off tournament at North Harbour Stadium. Photosport

Fifa Women’s World Cup chief executive Dave Beeche remains confident of large crowds for the mega event in New Zealand in July and August, despite underwhelming turnouts during the recent playoff tournament.

That event, which saw Portugal, Haiti and Panama confirm the last three spots, saw some sparkling football in Auckland and Hamilton and some colourful expatriate support, particularly from the Chilean and Argentinian communities.

But the local sporting public was often sparse.

Tournament officials and stadium staff almost outnumbered spectators at one match (476) while other crowd figures included 746, 804 and 925.

The three matches involving the Football Ferns – run parallel to the tournament – drew average crowds of 3775.

While it was always going to be a hard sell – given other summer activities, the low profile of some teams and the disruption caused by Cyclone Gabrielle – it wasn’t the best look, especially as Fifa brought plenty of bells and whistles to the event.

It also underlined the scale of the task for organisers, with 29 World Cup matches on this side of the Tasman, including nine at Eden Park, but Beeche is unconcerned.

“It is obvious that we would have liked a few more spectators in the stands but the sport globally is exploding, and the growth curve is never a straight line,” Beeche told the Herald. “But the New Zealand audience will come out for the main tournament as everyone appreciates the world’s best and New Zealand has a good track record of supporting those mega events.”

Beeche said a comprehensive marketing strategy over the next four months – from top level to grassroots – will heighten awareness of the event. He also pointed to the Women’s Rugby World Cup last year, which took a while for momentum to build and ended with near sellouts.

“I’m 100 per cent confident New Zealand will get in behind the main event and stadiums will be full come July,” said Beeche.

Beeche pointed to some promising early sales figures for the event.

Almost 625,000 tickets have been sold across the tournament so far, with around 145,000 tickets sold across the four New Zealand stadiums.

“That is about what you would expect, given the population differences,” said Beeche. “We are heartened by the progress and the early adoption and engagement. We are selling thousands of tickets a day.”

Around 15,000 tickets have already been snapped up for the opening match between the Football Ferns and Norway at Eden Park while the group stage blockbuster between United States and the Netherlands in Wellington – a repeat of the 2019 final – is heading towards a sellout, with half the stadium already gone.

And that’s despite the stuttering performances of the Ferns, who seem to be on an uncertain trajectory, with six defeats from their last seven matches. Their recent form probably hasn’t helped organisers but Beeche takes a pragmatic view.

“I don’t think the success of this tournament is going to hinge on the performance of either host team,” said Beeche. “The New Zealand public are going to get behind it anyway, given it is going to be the largest women’s sporting event on the planet in history. People will appreciate that and get in behind the experience that will be delivered in stadiums; that sense of excitement, noise and energy from global football.”

Overall, Beeche was effusive about the playoff tournament. He said operationally it was a great test run, with lots of lessons. The teams reported a great experience and Fifa were “very impressed” with the logistics, quality of pitches and “everything behind the scenes”.

“It was a good showcase of what we have coming in July and a good sharpening up exercise [for everyone”,” said Beeche. “A big tick.”