Ticket demand sees FIFA move Ireland's World Cup opener

The Republic of Ireland's World Cup opener against Australia in July looks has been moved to the 82,500-capacity Accor Stadium in Sydney due to the high level of demand for tickets.

The decision to move the game – which had been mooted a few weeks ago – from the 42,500-capacity Allianz Stadium in Moore Park was expected with demand outweighing supply on both sides.

Tickets sold out earlier this month with Irish supporters frustrated at receiving an allocation of just 1,700.

The switch to Stadium Australia will see more tickets being made available on Public Sale via the FIFA Ticketing Portal. Over half a million tickets have already been sold for this summer's tournament with Ireland ranked ninth amongst the 32 participating nations of ticket purchasers.

Vera Pauw's team will face off against the co-hosts in the second game of the tournament on Thursday, 20 July at 11.00am Irish time.

With New Zealand facing Norway a few hours earlier, FIFA are hoping more than 100,000 spectators will be in attendance across both games on the opening day of the tournament.

The change in venue will be a welcome development for both countries, with further tickets will become available on 24 February at fifa.com, with another batch to go on general sale on Friday, 3 March.

A capacity crowd at Accor Stadium would see the second largest crowd in Women's World Cup history, behind only the USA v China at the Rose Bowl in California [90,185] back in 1999.