Women's World Cup on pace to smash attendance records, says FA's Johnson

SYDNEY : The current Women's World Cup will be the best attended ever and is on course to smash the per-match record set in Canada in 2015, Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said on Friday.

He also reiterated that a successful Women's World Cup could be a springboard to Australia hosting the men's event.

"There have been more people attending matches than any Women's World Cup," Johnson told a press briefing to mark the end of the group stage in Australia and co-host New Zealand.

So far more than 1.2 million fans have passed through the turnstiles and organisers now expect that figure to rise to 1.9 million by the time the tournament ends on Aug. 20.

"Our (target) was to get to 1.5 million and we'll go past that," he said, adding that he had also "been hearing stories from all over the world" of record broadcast numbers.

This year's expanded field of 32 teams means 64 games rather than the 52 played in Canada. However, average attendances in 2015 were around 26,000, compared with more than 30,000 so far this time.

And, as evidenced by the 40,000 fans who packed Sydney Football Stadium on Wednesday for France's entertaining 6-3 group game win over Panama, the tournament seems to be capturing the imagination of neutrals in host countries where soccer has not traditionally enjoyed top billing.

And merchandise is selling fast.

Matildas jerseys, Johnson said, are outselling the Socceroos jersey from the FIFA men's World Cup last year in Qatar two to one. Sam Kerr, the Chelsea striker who sat out Australia's first-round games with a calf injury, is the top-selling jersey.

"We're investing just as much money in the Matildas programme as we are the Socceroos programme. That's something that's really important for us," he