Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023: Why individual match tickets are currently unavailable to buy

The Football Ferns huddle ahead of their clash against Portugal in February. Photo / Photosport

There are fewer than four months to go until the Fifa Women’s World Cup, but single-match tickets have gone off sale.

More than 600,000 tickets had sold before the governing body took sales offline for the tournament hosted in Australia and New Zealand, leaving only “hospitality packages” available – but it’s not because individual options have sold out.

New Zealand Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 chief operating officer Jane Patterson said fans can expect individual tickets to come back on sale.

“It might seem unusual for tickets to go off sale just months out from a major event, but it’s common for global events of this scale in order to allow seat allocations to take place,” Patterson told the Herald.

They do this so they can create a better atmosphere among the crowd.

Chile fans and supporters during the Fifa Women's World Cup playoff tournament at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. Photo / Photosport

Patterson said “when you usually purchase a ticket in NZ, you buy a seat number”, but this was not an option before tickets went off sale.

For Fifa ticketing, Patterson said “you purchase the ticket, but your seat is allocated at a later date”.

“The seat allocation for the approximately 650,000 tickets already sold are being allocated for each stadium.

“One of the reasons is that, if 10,000 Americans buy tickets, they can be seated in the same area to create the atmosphere rather than be scattered throughout the stadium.”

This pause on ticket sales had been planned since the ticketing programme was announced and wasn’t unusual for an event of this size, Patterson said.

Accessing tickets

“The good news is that tickets for the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023 will go back on sale from 2pm on April 11 at the 100-days-to-go milestone,” Patterson said.

From this date, the tickets on sale will have allocated seats.

Previously purchased and future tickets will be available to download through the Fifa Women’s World Cup ticketing app, which will be available closer to the start date.

Patterson said: “All ticket purchasers will receive an email when the ticketing app is ready to be downloaded and their tickets are available within the app.”

Popular matches

The USA celebrate winning the 2019 Fifa Women's World Cup. Photo / Photosport

Fifa said there had been been “strong interest in the Football Ferns’ three group stage matches”, including the opening match on July 20 at Eden Park against Norway.

“As expected, tickets to see defending champions USA are in hot demand, with all of their matches expected to sell out as well.”

The Herald also understands the Group E fixture between the USA and the Netherlands – a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final – in Wellington on July 27 is close to a sellout.

‘Buy early’

“My advice would be to have a look at the 29 matches being played in Aotearoa so you’re ready to go come Tuesday 11 April,” said Patterson.

“We can’t guarantee tickets will be available if you leave it too close to kickoff, with interest in this Fifa Women’s World Cup starting to build.”

Fifa has encouraged fans to buy early and not wait until the tournament has started to secure their spot at the biggest women’s sporting event.