Big Crowds Continue At The Auckland FIFA Fan Festival™

As the final week of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ kicks off, this is the last chance for fans to snap up the last remaining match tickets at Eden Park or experience the atmosphere at the FIFA Fan Festival™ on Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Queens Wharf.

Nearly 165,000 fans have visited the FIFA Fan Festivals in the four New Zealand Host Cities. Since opening on Friday 21 July, the Auckland Fan Festival has seen almost 80,000 total visitors including more than 12,000 visitors on the two days of Quarter-finals matches at the weekend.

The Football Ferns continue to be a drawcard at the FIFA Fan Festival with nearly 14,000 Aucklanders and visitors jumping at the chance to capture an augmented reality photo with the players.

Other highlights from the Fan Festival include:

• 12,410 people tested out the Goalie Challenge
• 10,270 people took on the Fast Feet agility challenge
• 11,796 people kicked goals inside the all-abilities Toa Pitch
• 9515 people took photos inside the 360 Slow-Motion photo booth
• 8295 people played football on the five-a-side Unity Pitch.

Matches screening at the FIFA Fan Festival this week (all times are NZT):

• Semi-final match Spain v Sweden on Tuesday 15 August at 8:00pm
• Semi-final match Australia v England on Wednesday 16 August at 10:00pm
• Third place match (teams TBC) on Saturday 19 August at 8:00pm
• Final match (teams TBC) on Sunday 20 August at 10:00pm.

Entertainment highlights at the FIFA Fan Festival this week:

• Coterie - Kiwi music band; Tuesday 15 August 6:15pm
• Laugh Club - Comedy Night; Wednesday 16 August 7:30pm
• CHAII - Kiwi rapper; Saturday 19 August 6:45pm
• Kaylee Bell - Country music; Sunday 20 August 8:45pm
• Poi Workshops; Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August: 12pm – 2pm
• Face Painting; Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August: 2pm-5pm
• Esports E-cup; videogame football tournament semi-final + final on the main stage and screen 3:30pm to 5:00pm (20 August)
• For the full entertainment line up at the FIFA Fan Festival click here
• Rights-free images from the FIFA Fan Festival™ can be found here

By the numbers – attendance numbers at Eden Park matches:

· Sweden v Japan 11 August 43,217

· Switzerland v Spain 5 August 43,217

· USA v Portugal 1 August 42,958

· Norway v Philippines 30 July 34,697

· Spain v Zambia 26 July 20,983

· Argentina v Italy 24 July 30,889

· USA v Vietnam 22 July 41,107

· New Zealand v Norway 20 July 42,137

More than 665,000 fans have attended the 28 matches so far across the four Host Cities in Aotearoa. The total attendance at Eden Park across eight matches has been 297,405 people, an average of 37,175 across the eight matches to date.

Eden Park match this week:

• Semi-final match Spain v Sweden on Tuesday 15 August at 8:00pm

The Last Mile

The streets around Eden Park will come to life two hours before the Semi-final match. Tournament mascot Tazuni will greet the crowd with other performers includingTinsel monsters (The Human agency), LED suit roaming dancers (Vosperton), eight-piece big band (Auckland City Scoundrels) and multiple face painters (BodyFX).

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