Soccer

Women's Champions League game attracts world-record crowd of 91,553 in Barcelona

A world-record crowd for a women's soccer match of more than 91,000 people watched Barcelona defeat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Champions League at the Camp Nou Stadium on Wednesday.

Previous mark was 90,185 for 1999 U.S.-China Women's World Cup final

Some in the world-record gathering of 91,553 at Camp Nou Stadium perform a tifo before Wednesday's women’s Champions League match between Barcelona and visiting Real Madrid. (Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

A world-record crowd for a women's soccer match of more than 91,000 people watched Barcelona defeat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Champions League at the Camp Nou Stadium on Wednesday.

Organizers said 91,553 people were in attendance in Barcelona. The previous record for any women's game was 90,185 for the 1999 World Cup final between the United States and China at the Rose Bowl.

At the 2012 Olympic final in London, 80,203 people saw the U.S. defeat Japan 2-1 to win the gold medal.

The previous club record was 60,739 in a Spanish league match between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona at Atletico's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in 2019.

A stadium-wide mosaic featured the words "More than Empowerment" on the grandstands of the Camp Nou.

Barcelona advanced to the semifinals 8-3 on aggregate after winning the first leg 3-1 in Madrid last week.

Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas scored one of the goals for Barcelona, which will face either Arsenal or Wolfsburg in the semifinals.

It was the first time Barcelona's women's team played a match at the Camp Nou in front of fans. It had played at the stadium before but behind closed doors because of restrictions prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The team usually play its matches at the much smaller Johan Cruyff Stadium, which holds about 6,000 fans. The Camp Nou has a 99,000-capacity.

Barcelona has won all seven meetings with Madrid, which only recently created its women's team.

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

Get up to speed on what's happening in sports. Delivered weekdays.

...

The next issue of The Buzzer will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in the Subscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.