Record prize money, ticket sales: 2023 Women World Cup in key numbers

Sweden on Saturday defeated Australia 2-0 in the third-place match of the 2023 Women’s World Cup, with goals from Fridolina Rolfo and Kosovare Asllani.

The victory gave Sweden their fourth bronze medal at the World Cup, while Australia had to settle for fourth place after their loss in the semi-finals.

England will play Spain in the World Cup final on Sunday, bringing the tournament that started on July 20 to a close.

Here, we look at the key tournament sporting and business statistics with one game remaining.

Attendance

The 2023 Women’s World Cup has seen record attendances in both host nations, Australia and New Zealand.

A record 1.7 million tickets have been sold for the tournament, up from 1 million for the 2019 tournament.

In Australia, the Matildas played in front of capacity crowds of 75,784 at Stadium Australia in Sydney for their opening match against the Republic of Ireland, their Round of 16 match against Denmark, and their semi-final match against England.

In New Zealand, 43,217 people watched the semi-final match between Spain and Sweden at Eden Park in Auckland.

The 42,137 fans at the same venue for the opening game of the tournament, New Zealand’s win over Norway, was a record home attendance for either the men’s or women’s national teams.

Overall, over 1.9 million fans have attended matches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, for an average attendance of 30,198. This is the highest average attendance for any Women’s World Cup.

Marketing wins for big brands

Brands cashed in on the growing popularity of women’s football. A third of new fans to the sport are women, boosting visibility for sponsors like Coca-Cola and Budweiser.

Nike’s exclusive Martine Rose designer collaboration, characterized by its gender-neutral cuts as sported by the US women’s team, sold out most of its merchandise inventory prior to the tournament, according to Robinhood.

Adidas saw over a fifth of its women’s team products sell out — nearly thrice as many as in 2019. Also, Visa, Frito-Lay, Adobe, Dove maker Unilever, and Roblox became sponsors as more corporations support women’s sports.

Prize money for teams and players

The total prize money for the tournament, awarded by FIFA, is US$110 million. The direct prize money on offer is three times more than what was on offer in 2019 and six times more than in 2015.

The champions will earn US$4.29 million with each team guaranteed at least US$1.56 million for simply qualifying – all two figures are record.

A notable part of this tournament is the fact every player has been allocated prize money in addition to what their teams earn.

All 732 players are guaranteed at least US$30,000 in individual prize money with those on the winning team pocketing US$270,000.

Here’s how much each players stands to earn depending on their progress at the tournament.

Goals scored

There have been 163 goals scored in the 63 matches leading up to the Women’s World Cup final, an average of 2.59 goals per game.

This is significantly lower than the average of 3 goals per game in the 2022 European Championship.

Spain has scored the most goals with 17, followed by Japan (15), Sweden (14), England (13), the Netherlands (12), France (11), and Australia (10).

Hinata Miyazawa of Japan leads the Golden Boot race with 5 goals, followed by Amanda Ilestedt of Sweden (4 goals). The other players with a chance to win the Golden Boot are Lauren James, Lauren Hemp, and Alessia Russo of England, and Alba Redondo, Jenni Hermoso, and Aitana Bonmati of Spain (all with 3 goals).

Penalties

There were penalties awarded in each of the first seven games of the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

However, the pace slowed significantly after that start, with only 19 penalties awarded in the next 56 games. There have been a total of 26 penalties awarded in the tournament so far, out of which 20 have been scored, for a success rate of 77%.

Australia’s Steph Catley, China’s Wang Shuang, and France’s Kadidiatou Diani each scored two penalties. Fridolina Rolfo of Sweden became the third different Swedish player to score from the spot, when she converted a penalty against Australia in the third-place match.

Records

The 1000th goal in Women’s World Cup history was scored by Barbra Banda of Zambia in a penalty against Costa Rica in the group stage. This historic moment marked the tournament’s debut for Zambia, who made their mark on the world stage.

England set a record for scoring in 16 consecutive World Cup games with their 6-1 win over China. This record-breaking run included all seven of their games at the 2019 tournament and six in 2015. However, their streak was ended by Nigeria in the last 16, before they eventually prevailed on penalties to advance.

Casey Phair became the youngest player at a Women’s World Cup when she came on as a substitute for South Korea against Colombia at the age of 16 years and 26 days.