To date 55,000 tickets have been sold for the England vs Germany game on 23 November at Wembley. According to the FA that is 22,000 tickets sold since last Monday.
However, because long standing engineering works are due to take place on that day, meaning that the Metropolitan Line will be closed as well as a section of the Jubilee line, the FA have taken the decision to cap sales and tickets are no longer available. Presumably no-one expected this level of interest for a women’s game (and a friendly at that). Interest in the men’s team has recently been on the wane, but with the refreshing news that an England team has romped to qualification in World Cup Finals, winning ten games out of ten and scoring 52 goals in the process, it has obviously surprised the organisers that the public are supporting the women’s team in such numbers.
Although 55,000 is way above expectations how unfortunate that on this first occasion that the women’s team play at Wembley, and with another two weeks of potential sales available, we will never know the number that could have been achieved.
The FA has apologised to anyone who will be disappointed by this announcement, but they took into account previous similar experiences such as the England v Andorra fixture in 2009, where a crowd of 58,000 were present, they believe this to be a sensible decision based on the latest travel advice.
Wembley Stadium advise spectators on the 23rd to use the enhanced Chiltern Railways service between Marylebone and Wembley or the Bakerloo or London Overground services to and from Wembley Central Station.
