The Hyundai A-League smashed a series of attendance, stadium and broadcast records across a memorable weekend for Australian football, including a new mark for the most fans to attend a single round of A-League matches.
Fans flocked to matches in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Gosford with the new record of 106,082 spectators breaking the mark set in opening round last year when 100,998 fans came through the gates.
The records to tumble across the weekend were:
1) Highest ever attendance for a single round of the Hyundai A-League – 106,082 fans.
2) New attendance record for Adelaide United with 33,126 fans watching Adelaide United draw 1-1 with Melbourne Victory at Adelaide Oval on Friday night.
3) Highest ever Sydney FC crowd with 41,213 fans watching the Sky Blues defeat the Western Sydney Wanderers 3-2 in a pulsating Sydney Derby at Allianz Stadium.
4) The Sydney Derby attendance was the biggest crowd to watch a regular season match across any code at Allianz Stadium since it opened in 1988.
5) The Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers match attracted the highest ever average audience on Fox Sports in the 10-year history of the Hyundai A-League with an average of 188,000 eclipsing the mark of 164,000 set when Alessandro Del Piero made his home debut for Sydney FC against Emile Heskey’s Newcastle Jets in round 2 of the 2012/13 season.
6) Melbourne City set a new record crowd for a “non-Derby” match with 15,717 fans watching David Villa rescue a late point in a 1-1 draw against Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park.
7) The Hyundai A-League clubs passed the 100,000 members this week for the first time in the competition’s history.
“The Hyundai A-League has started with a flurry of records and atmosphere that has once again showed football’s growth and highlighted the colour and passion that is unique to the A-League,” said FFA CEO David Gallop.
“The fans have shown that the thirst for the Hyundai A-League continues to grow and it has set us up nicely as we look to meet some bullish targets for attendance and broadcast numbers over the 2014/15 season.
“The Sydney Derby and Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory games in particular highlighted the box office appeal of the marquee matches and we look forward to the growth trend continuing in the coming weeks and months.”
The blockbusters will continue next weekend Melbourne Victory hosting Melbourne City in the Melbourne Derby at Etihad Stadium while the Western Sydney Wanderers take on Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the first leg of the AFC Asian Champions League final at Pirtek Stadium.
