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Kiwis banked more than $100m from Women's World Cup

Staff WritersReuters
New Zealand kicked off a profitable World Cup with a 1-0 win over Norway in Auckland. (AP PHOTO)
Camera IconNew Zealand kicked off a profitable World Cup with a 1-0 win over Norway in Auckland. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AP

New Zealand received a net economic benefit of $NZ109.5 million ($A101 million) from co-hosting the Women's World Cup with Australia earlier this year, according to a government impact evaluation report.

The report, released on Friday, said 27,000 people visited the country during the July 20 to August 20 tournament and they spent more than $NZ80 million on accommodation, meals, transport and shopping.

New Zealanders also embraced the tournament, with more than 740,000 tickets issued for the 29 matches staged in Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Dunedin.

Although ticket sales were sluggish for some of the matches and world governing body FIFA gave away thousands of tickets, the record for a crowd for a football match in the country was surpassed three times at Auckland's Eden Park.

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The country received $NZ1.34 from every dollar invested in the tournament, the report said, and the total economic benefit was more than double what the government had expected.

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"It was the largest and most successful women's sporting event ever, exceeding expectations on and off the field," Kylie Hawker-Green, major events manager at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, said.

"It captured the hearts of the nation, elevated women's football and sport more generally while cementing New Zealand's global reputation as an exceptional major event host."

The tournament, which was capped by co-hosts Australia going all the way to the semi-finals, fell just short of two million attendees overall.

A full house of more than 75,000 fans crammed into Stadium Australia in Sydney for the final between England and Spain, taking the total number of supporters who attended matches to 1,978,274 and exceeding FIFA's projections by more than 500,000.

The tournament generated more than $US570 million ($A887 million) for FIFA, enabling the global governing body to break even despite a big hike in prize money.

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