The sold-out A-League semi-final between the Wellington Phoenix and Melbourne Victory set a new attendance milestone for a club football match in New Zealand.
The 33,298 spectators at Sky Stadium for Victory’s 2-1 win on May 18, 2024, became the most-attended club match ever staged in New Zealand.
It became one of only 18 football matches played on New Zealand soil to exceed an attendance of 30,000.
The game was the fifth-highest attended for any game of football played by men, and had the 12th largest attendance for any match, male or female.
It was the fourth-largest football crowd for a match staged in Wellington.
For the record
Here are the largest attendances for football matches in New Zealand (updated on May 19, 2024):
43,217 (1st=)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Saturday August 5, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
Switzerland 1 (own goal 11′)
Spain 5 (Aitana Bonmati 5′, 36′, Alba Redondo 17′, Laia Codina 45′, Jennifer Hermoso 70′)
43,217 (1st=)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Friday August 11, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
Japan 1 (Honoka Hayashi 87′)
Sweden 2 (Amanda Ilestedt 32′, Filippa Angeldal 51′ pen)
43,217 (1st=)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Tuesday August 15, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
Spain 2 (Salma Celeste Paralluelo Ayingono 81′, Olga Carmona 89′)
Sweden 1 (Rebecka Blomqvist 88′)
42,958 (4th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Tuesday August 1, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
United States 0
Portugal 0
42,137 (5th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Thursday July 20, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
New Zealand 1 (Hannah Wilkinson 48′)
Norway 0
41,107 (6th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Saturday July 22, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
United States 3 (Sophia Smith 14′, 45+7′, Lindsey Horan 77′)
Vietnam 0
37,034 (7th)
FIFA Men’s World Cup, intercontinental play-off
Game played on Saturday November 11, 2017
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
New Zealand 0
Peru 0
35,179 (8th)
FIFA Men’s World Cup, intercontinental play-off
Game played on Saturday November 14, 2009
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
New Zealand 1 (Rory Fallon 45′)
Bahrain 0
34,985 (9th)
International friendly
Game played on September 25, 2022
Eden Park, Auckland
New Zealand 0
Australia 2 (Mitchell Duke, 54′ Jason Cummings 80′ pen)
34,697 (10th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Sunday July 30, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
Norway 6 (Sophie Román Haug 6′, 17′, 90+5′, Caroline Graham Hansen 31′, own goal 48′, Guro Reiten 53′ pen)
Philippines 0
33,626 (11th)
FIFA Men’s World Cup, intercontinental play-off
Game played on Wednesday November 20, 2013
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
New Zealand 2 (Chris James 80′ pen, Rory Fallon 83′)
Mexico 4 (Oribe Peralta 14′, 29′, 33′, Carlos Pena 87′)
33,298 (12th)
Men’s A-League, semi-final
Game played on Saturday May 19, 2024
Sky Stadium, Wellington
Wellington Phoenix 1 (Oskar Zawada 90+9′)
Melbourne Victory 2 (Adama Traoré 82′, Chris Ikonomidis 102′)
*After extra time. Victory win 2-1 on aggregate.
33,042 (13th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Saturday August 5, 2023
Sky Stadium, Wellington
Japan 3 (own goal 15′, Risa Shimizu 50′, Hinata Miyazawa 81′)
Norway 1 (Guro Reiten 20′)
32,941 (14th)
Men’s A-League, play-offs
Game played on Sunday March 7, 2010
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Wellington Phoenix 3 (Tim Brown, Paul Ifill, Eugene Dadi)
Newcastle Jets 1 (Matt Thompson)
32,357 (15th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Tuesday July 25, 2023
Sky Stadium, Wellington
New Zealand 0
Philippines 1 (Sarina Bolden 24′)
32,021 (16th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Friday August 11, 2023
Sky Stadium, Wellington
Spain 2 (Mariona Caldentey 81′ pen, Salma Celeste Paralluelo Ayingono 111′)
Netherlands 1 (Stefanie van der Gragt 90+1′)
*After extra time
31,853 (17th)
Exhibition game
Game played on Saturday December 1, 2007
Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Wellington Phoenix 1 (Ross Aloisi)
LA Galaxy 4 (Clint Mathis, Landon Donovan, Carlos Pavon, David Beckham)
30,889 (18th)
FIFA Women’s World Cup
Game played on Monday July 24, 2023
Eden Park, Auckland
Italy 1 (Cristiana Girelli 87’)
Argentina 0
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