Women's World Cup passes 500,000 milestone in ticket sales

The Girls in Green will make their tournament debut in Australia.

Denise O'Sullivan during a Republic of Ireland training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

More spectators than ever will get to watch this summer’s Women’s World Cup after Fifa confirmed the milestone of 500,00 tickets sales has already been surpassed.

Ireland will make their tournament debut in Australia, co-hosts with New Zealand, and are among the top nations to have purchased tickets for the first-ever expanded 32-team extravaganza.

Harnessing the growth of the female game globally, the tournament is well on track to smash the overall attendance record of 1.1m racked up last time out three years ago in France.

The demand for tickets has been such that Ireland’s opener against the hosts and one of the favourites Australia is being upgraded to the 83,000 Accor Stadium, double the capacity of the original Allianz Stadium venue.

Pressure to accommodate disappointed fans drove the decision and it remains to be seen what official allocation is granted to Irish supporters, who had originally led to believe just 5% were ringfenced.

The Green Army will be on the move after the Sydney showdown, for they must trek 4,000 kilometres cross-continent for the Canada game in Perth on July 26, followed by another jaunt to Brisbane five days later against Nigeria to compete the pool. The top two nations proceed to the last-16.