United States Visit To Wembley Becomes Fastest-Selling Women’s Match In History

Just two days after winning the UEFA Women’s Euro title in front of 87,192 spectators at Wembley Stadium, the new European champions, England announced they would play the world champions, the United States at the same venue in October with 65,000 tickets being sold on the first day.

This makes it the fastest-selling women’s soccer match in history outside a major international tournament. Earlier in the season, FC Barcelona’s UEFA Women’s Champions League match against VfL Wolfsburg at Camp Nou sold 50,000 tickets in the first 24 hours. However these tickets were only available to club members who were entitled to claim up to four tickets each paying just a nominal administration charge. The match was eventually watched by a crowd of 91,668, an official world record for a women’s soccer match.

This mark will not be broken at Wembley in October with capacity at the English National Stadium limited to just over 87,000 but it may set a new record for gate receipts at a non-competive women’s soccer match outside a major tournament as it now seems inconceivable, with two months to go until the match, that it will not completely sell-out.

With tickets priced at £10 ($12) for adults and £5 ($6) for under 16s, prices are not comparable with those of the England men’s national team. Tickets for their last home match against Hungary sold for £35 ($43), £50 ($61) and £65 ($79). Yet, even accounting for this, even a conservative estimate of the crowd demographic would lead to gate receipts for the game exceeding £500,000 ($610,000).

The sale of 65,000 tickets on the first day is even more remarkable considering the match is not yet even officially scheduled as the date is subject to England qualifying automatically for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Requiring just a single point from their remaining two matches in September, this is seemingly a formality. The match is not even on general sale until today with sales so far limited only to ‘My England Football’ members.

This is set to be the latest headline-grabbing attendance in the women’s game at the end of a season in which the three largest crowds to watch matches at any game in Europe (91,668, 91,553 – for FC Barcelona v Real Madrid – and 87,192) were all for women’s soccer, surpassing anything in the men’s game.

The draw of the world champions in such a high-profile match is obvious. Before Sunday, the record attendance for a women’s international soccer match at Wembley, and in Europe, was held by the United States Women’s National Team when 80,203 people saw them defeat Japan 2-1 in the 2012 Olympic Football Final.

United States head coach, Vlatko Andonovski was part of the new record crowd at Wembley on Sunday to witness the England women’s team win the first major tournament in their history. He said “to get a chance to play the European champions in London at Wembley is an opportunity that doesn’t come around very often, so we’re all thankful that the match could be arranged”.

The match will also be used to mark the 50th anniversary of the England women’s national team, nicknamed the Lionesses. They played their first official international match in November 1972 against Scotland in Greenock shortly after the 50-year ban imposed on the women’s game by the English Football Association was lifted. As a tribute to those pioneers, the aim is to invite every living Lioness to the National Stadium for the match against the United States, and also to acknowledge those across previous generations who paved the way.