Although Morocco got beaten 6-0 by Germany, the Germans were ruthless and could go semis or better. Morocco had the ball in the net twice and had 3-4 players that probably have comparable or slightly better technique than our forwards. The commentator said that since 2009 Morocco have invested heavily in women’s football with the aim of having 1,000 certified female coaches and 90,000 players. From 30 odd million people. The commentator also said the only country in the world to have a two tiered fully professional women’s leagues- 14 clubs in the top division. The national association pays the players at all clubs to ensure they are paid. But monthly salaries are $350 usd, but relative in a country with low incomes. Still, we aren’t far away from seeing the first female footballer being signed for $1m. Maybe 10-15 years for the first NZ female million dollar player. One day it will happen.
So from that it seems the Moroccan FA is relatively progressive, and not something you would likely think of with an Arab country. Pity that BBC reporter chose a negative questioning approach at Morocco’s press conference. As another female reporter said, a question reeking of ignorant Western privilege. Not the time or place
Over 30,000 in Auckland again tonight. When there was pre-tournament chat of slow sales, what exactly did that mean? Will there be any way to know if there was a late surge, and how much it was influenced by the result on the first night?
They meant slow sales for the smaller games outside the big centres: the ones they had to give away free tix for, like Costa Rica v Zambia in Hamilton.
Wellington and Auckland have been good - but only 11,000 in Dunedin to see the Netherlands and Portugal, two of the best teams, is embarrassing.
Over 30,000 in Auckland again tonight. When there was pre-tournament chat of slow sales, what exactly did that mean? Will there be any way to know if there was a late surge, and how much it was influenced by the result on the first night?
They meant slow sales for the smaller games outside the big centres: the ones they had to give away free tix for, like Costa Rica v Zambia in Hamilton.
Wellington and Auckland have been good - but only 11,000 in Dunedin to see the Netherlands and Portugal, two of the best teams, is embarrassing.
Yeah but that’s really the only game so far I’d put in the disappointing category though. We’re going to end up with 30,000+ averages in Auckland and Wellington and games in the 10,000-20,000 range everywhere else. I’d have called that a success pre-tournament. The crowd for the Germany match last night was 27,000 iirc and they’re world number 2, so it’s not like we’re lagging way behind Australia either.
I think the Ferns winning against Norway has helped lift ticket sales a bit. Great effort from fans though to be turning up in these numbers. On another note how brilliant were Brazil to watch? Their 3rd goal was glorious.
I think the Ferns winning against Norway has helped lift ticket sales a bit. Great effort from fans though to be turning up in these numbers. On another note how brilliant were Brazil to watch? Their 3rd goal was glorious.
The third goal showed how footballers should play - as a team, for the team, not individual glory. That’s the difference between true professional and lesser players, and we see it all to often in games where players make the wrong choice with a rush of blood to the head, rather than believing in the power of the team and making the right pass. A true team is a single organism.
I think the Ferns winning against Norway has helped lift ticket sales a bit. Great effort from fans though to be turning up in these numbers. On another note how brilliant were Brazil to watch? Their 3rd goal was glorious.
The third goal showed how footballers should play - as a team, for the team, not individual glory. That’s the difference between true professional and lesser players, and we see it all to often in games where players make the wrong choice with a rush of blood to the head, rather than believing in the power of the team and making the right pass. A true team is a single organism.
The interesting thing about the Brazilian team goal was that within it were a couple of moments of individual brilliance. The other thing that struck me about Brazil was how happy they all were while playing. There were a number of times when moves broke down or they came close to scoring and the players were smiling, giving each other support and just completely upbeat. Aside from the Ferns they have now become my favourite team so far.
Some useful context on the Dunners crowd numbers from Dylan Cleaver:
"The crowds in Dunedin haven’t looked great, but a bit of context is probably required. Close to 14,000 turned up for Switzerland’s 2-0 win over the Philippines and 12,000 as the Dutch beat the Portuguese 1-0. It looked pretty average on telly but we’re talking about a city of 128,000 with an outsized student population. Some 21,000 saw Nigeria and Canada play out a 0-0 draw in Melbourne, a city with a population of five million.
Over 30,000 in Auckland again tonight. When there was pre-tournament chat of slow sales, what exactly did that mean? Will there be any way to know if there was a late surge, and how much it was influenced by the result on the first night?
They meant slow sales for the smaller games outside the big centres: the ones they had to give away free tix for, like Costa Rica v Zambia in Hamilton.
Wellington and Auckland have been good - but only 11,000 in Dunedin to see the Netherlands and Portugal, two of the best teams, is embarrassing.
Portugal aren't one of the best teams, and frankly if Dunedin and Hamilton can hit above 10k for all their games, that will be a great success.
100% agree. This W.C has been great to watch. I must admit I have got a bit jaded watching European club football. Too many over blown egos and too much talk about money. Women’s football is a breath of fresh air
they are new, part of the upgrades thanks to FIFA.
I've been digging it. Hopefully they use it well and the Nix games get some more pizazz
I actually think these upgrades across the football grounds in NZ and Aus has been largely under appreciated. Clubs that have given their home ground and clubrooms as training venues have had massive upgrades in lighting, drainage etc. The lights at Newtown park now look amazing.
they are new, part of the upgrades thanks to FIFA.
I've been digging it. Hopefully they use it well and the Nix games get some more pizazz
I actually think these upgrades across the football grounds in NZ and Aus has been largely under appreciated. Clubs that have given their home ground and clubrooms as training venues have had massive upgrades in lighting, drainage etc. The lights at Newtown park now look amazing.
Awesome I haven't seen Newtown Park. Shark does that mean with the upgrades the Nix women might be playing there?
I'll still go but gonna be a pain in the ass haha.
One obvious deficiency from the Men's game is quite apparent - the lack of "diving". The women should be very proud that this has been very minimal and the Men could or should take note of it too.
One obvious deficiency from the Men's game is quite apparent - the lack of "diving". The women should be very proud that this has been very minimal and the Men could or should take note of it too.
It'll come as the women's game gets more professional. Once there's a lot more money on the line there's a lot more incentive to dive.
With the caveat that rankings don’t necessarily reflect accurately a teams standing - and I expect quite some movement in the women’s rankings over the next 5-10 years as other countries embrace women’s football more -there are some bigger names than NZ that are out.
Out: 2 Germany
7 Canada
8 Brazil
14 China
16 Italy
17 S. Korea
21 Portugal
22 Ireland
26 New Zealand
28 Argentina
32 Vietnam
36 Costa Rica
46 Phillipines
52 Panama
53 Haiti
77 Zambia
Through:
1 USA
3 Sweden
4 England
5 France
6 Spain
9 Netherlands
10 Australia
11 Japan
12 Norway
13 Denmark
20 Switzerland
25 Columbia
40 Nigeria
43 Jamaica
54 South Africa
72 Morocco
So 4 teams ranked lower than us are through, 8 teams ranked lower than us are out. While disappointing not to get through after the very good win over Norway, some perspective says it wasn’t a poor showing overall given we do narrowly missed out. Consider too, USA were only half the width of the post away from joining us. Fine margins
What do you think the average attendance of the non-NZ non-US group games in New Zealand going to be?. I have a bad feeling that it won't be impressive
I do not know actual answer, but I suspect a lot more than you thought it would be.
New Zealand finish the group stages with an average crowd ~ 3,000 more than in France 2019.
Of the top 20 attended group matches across 2019 and 2023, 9 were in Aus, 7 in NZ and 4 in France.
Crowd average during knockout phase in 2019 was just 29,087 so almost certain that will get smashed by both host nations. Annotation 2023-08-04 083546.png23.62 KB
New Zealand finish the group stages with an average crowd ~ 3,000 more than in France 2019.
Of the top 20 attended group matches across 2019 and 2023, 9 were in Aus, 7 in NZ and 4 in France.
Crowd average during knockout phase in 2019 was just 29,087 so almost certain that will get smashed by both host nations. Annotation 2023-08-04 083546.png23.62 KB
That's AWESOME!
Given we are in the ass end of the world that's seriously impressive as a lot were kiwis getting behind the event!
No doubt the success of this one will spur the next one to kick out numbers, but pretty stoked with NZ and Aussies effort to be honest.
New Zealand finish the group stages with an average crowd ~ 3,000 more than in France 2019.
Of the top 20 attended group matches across 2019 and 2023, 9 were in Aus, 7 in NZ and 4 in France.
Crowd average during knockout phase in 2019 was just 29,087 so almost certain that will get smashed by both host nations. Annotation 2023-08-04 083546.png23.62 KB
That is a great achievement for us in NZ. However, NZ attendance figures would have been boosted a lot if Christchurch, the second-biggest city in NZ, had hosted matches because crowds were quite poor in Dunedin for games (apart from the Ferns) and if we had a suitable stadium here in Christchurch, there is no way that Dunedin would have hosted any matches at all with its small population.
Dunedin predictably had the lowest attendances overall of any host city in the tournament if you take out the Ferns game which would have been well-attended anywhere (worst than Hamilton which does have a larger population of 180,000 compared to Dunedin's 130,000) Dunedin total attendance: 49,743 (five games) plus 25,947 (Ferns game)
Less than 7000 for Japan v Costa Rica, less than 12,000 for Netherlands v Portugal on a weekend - which was a big game and would have attracted a decent crowd anywhere else (especially Canterbury, Wellington, Waikato or Auckland, the main centres of Dutch settlement in NZ - Dutch population of NZ: only 5% live in Otago; 12.5% each in Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato; 26% in Auckland)
Average Dunedin attendances: 9949 (over five games, minus the Ferns game) Total Hamilton attendance: 59,549
Average Hamilton attendances: 11,910 (over the five games played there - second worst in the tournament)
Only NZ venue not to host the Football Ferns which brought their average attendance down a little.
Hamilton attracted 17,907 and 16,111 to non Football Ferns games on weekday evenings which was pretty amazing.
Attendances at other NZ venues:
Auckland average: 36,376 (over five games)
Wellington average: 25,898 (over four games)
The NZ record for any football match (men's or women's) was broken twice - first when 42,137 attended the opening game and a second time when 42,958 attended USA v Portugal, the last group match played in Auckland.
Hamilton's biggest crowd of 17,907 was 10% of the city's population.
Whereas Auckland's 42,958 was only 3% of that city's population.
Wellington's biggest crowd of 32,357 was 15.26% of Wellington city's population of 212,000 (or 7.44% of the metropolitan area including the Hutts, Porirua etc. which are actually separate cities). Wellington as a city actually only has a population of 212,000.
Apparently all games in the tournament are streaming free if you have a Samsung smart TV on "Samsung TV +" which carries the "FIFA+" channel: https://www.samsung.com/nz/tvs/smart-tv/samsung-tv-plus/all-channels/ FIFA Women's World Cup: All games streaming free onSamsung TV+: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
New Zealand finish the group stages with an average crowd ~ 3,000 more than in France 2019.
Of the top 20 attended group matches across 2019 and 2023, 9 were in Aus, 7 in NZ and 4 in France.
Crowd average during knockout phase in 2019 was just 29,087 so almost certain that will get smashed by both host nations. Annotation 2023-08-04 083546.png23.62 KB
That is a great achievement for us in NZ. However, NZ attendance figures would have been boosted a lot if Christchurch, the second-biggest city in NZ, had hosted matches because crowds were quite poor in Dunedin for games (apart from the Ferns) and if we had a suitable stadium here in Christchurch, there is no way that Dunedin would have hosted any matches at all with its small population.
Dunedin predictably had the lowest attendances overall of any host city in the tournament if you take out the Ferns game which would have been well-attended anywhere (worst than Hamilton which does have a larger population of 180,000 compared to Dunedin's 130,000) Dunedin total attendance: 49,743 (five games) plus 25,947 (Ferns game)
Less than 7000 for Japan v Costa Rica, less than 12,000 for Netherlands v Portugal on a weekend - which was a big game and would have attracted a decent crowd anywhere else (especially Canterbury, Wellington, Waikato or Auckland, the main centres of Dutch settlement in NZ - Dutch population of NZ: only 5% live in Otago; 12.5% each in Canterbury, Wellington and Waikato; 26% in Auckland)
Average Dunedin attendances: 9949 (over five games, minus the Ferns game) Total Hamilton attendance: 59,549
Average Hamilton attendances: 11,910 (over the five games played there - second worst in the tournament)
Only NZ venue not to host the Football Ferns which brought their average attendance down a little.
Hamilton attracted 17,907 and 16,111 to non Football Ferns games on weekday evenings which was pretty amazing.
Attendances at other NZ venues:
Auckland average: 36,376 (over five games)
Wellington average: 25,898 (over four games)
The NZ record for any football match (men's or women's) was broken twice - first when 42,137 attended the opening game and a second time when 42,958 attended USA v Portugal, the last group match played in Auckland.
Hamilton's biggest crowd of 17,907 was 10% of the city's population.
Whereas Auckland's 42,958 was only 3% of that city's population.
Wellington's biggest crowd of 32,357 was 15.26% of Wellington city's population of 212,000 (or 7.44% of the metropolitan area including the Hutts, Porirua etc. which are actually separate cities). Wellington as a city actually only has a population of 212,000.
For Wellington you gotta use the 7.44% because the Hutt and Porirua for attendance is basically the same city. The Hutt train was paaaaaacked after the game where I used the train.
