Women's football facts

Football is now the largest female sport in the world, with an estimated 40 million players participating in over 150 countries. The growth of women’s football in New Zealand mirrors this trend with football being the most popular sport for New Zealand youth and every third junior player being a girl. Women’s football has the highest participation levels for a sport for New Zealand girls under the age of 13. There are around 35,000 female players in this country and the senior national team – the Football Ferns – have a world ranking of 23. Hosting this brand new FIFA event offers New Zealand a further opportunity to boost player numbers and raise the profile of the sport.

Did you know?

   • The largest attendance for a women's football match ever was 90,185 people
     China vs USA in the FIFA Women's World Cup Final held at the Rose Bowl in
     California, July 1999.
   • American Kristine Lilly is the only footballer, male or female, to play over 300 international games for her country.