England sell out Wembley in 24 hours for huge USWNT friendly
England’s glamour friendly against the United States at Wembley in October, pitting the newly crowned European champions against the reigning world champions, has sold out the 90,000-capacity stadium just 24 hours after the fixture was announced.
Euro 2022 highlighted a huge appetite for women’s football in England and the United States continue to be seen as the gold standard in the global game as record four-time World Cup winners and top of the current FIFA world rankings.
The two countries last met in the 2019 World Cup semi-finals, when the Americans edged the contest 2-1 after England had a goal disallowed for offside and missed a late penalty.
It is a very fitting test for Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses to look forward to and fans were quick to sweep up all tickets. My England Football members took full advantage of a 24-hour pre-sale, buying up 65,000 tickets, with some waiting hours in an online queue to gain access.
All remaining tickets were then snapped up within just a few minutes of the general sale window opening the following day.
The United States friendly is still subject to England securing World Cup qualification during the September international break, requiring only a point from their meeting with Austria or, failing that, victory over Luxembourg at home a few days later.
Given that England won 1-0 the last two times they have faced Austria, including at Euro 2022 last month, and put ten goals past Luxembourg in September, it is not expected to be a problem.
The huge demand for women’s football has also translated into the club game. There was a huge surge of interest in the WSL just in the first 24 hours since England’s Euro 2022 win, with analysts noticing a 400% rise in Google searches for ‘WSL tickets’.
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