World Cup final to be most attended women's rugby match in history after ticket sellout

The Guardian

7 hours ago

Next month's Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham is already an 82,000 sellout, bullish organisers have announced, and will be the most attended women's rugby match in history.
The figure surpasses the 66,000 fans that packed the Stade de France for each session of the women's rugby sevens tournament at the Paris Olympics, and organisers say ticket sales across the tournament have also vastly exceeded expectations.
So far more than 375,000 tickets – which start at £10 for adults and £5 for children – have been sold, which is three times the number that were sold for the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
The news was announced by Gill Whitehead, the chair of the Women's Rugby World Cup, at a press conference in the buildup to the tournament opener between England and the United States at the Stadium of Light.
'The final we are very confident will be the most attended women's rugby match in history, easily surpassing the 66,000 crowd that we saw in Paris 2024,' she said. 'I can confirm the final at Allianz Stadium will be sold out. The last time England hosted the Women's Rugby World Cup [in 2010], the girls played at the Stoop around the corner to a crowd of 13,000.
'I started playing women's rugby 30 years ago and the prospect of girls running out of the tunnel, playing to the three tiers of Allianz packed to the rafters, is something perhaps I never hoped or thought I would see and it's certainly what girls' dreams are made of.'
More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for England's game against the US, but Sally Horrox, the World Rugby Chief of Women's Rugby, was confident it would be close to a 50,000 sellout by kick-off. 'The sport has grown significantly over the last three years,' she said. 'But it's hugely important now that we make the very most of this opportunity right in front of us over the next six weeks.'
Sarah Massey, the managing director of the tournament, said that more than 80% of tickets had been sold and that this would rise. She was confident those that had bought tickets would show up and be entranced by the spectacle in front of them.
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'We're ready to break records in attendances, viewership and engagement,' she said. 'This is going to be the biggest global celebration of women's rugby that we have ever seen. We've now sold 375,000 tickets across all those matches, surpassing all our initial ticket targets.
'That's also three times the number of tickets that were sold for the last Women's Rugby World Cup. You're going to see thrilling action, electric atmospheres, and be quick, because those remaining tickets are really selling up fast.'