Record crowd expected for women’s game in Spain

MADRID (AP) — A record crowd is expected to attend a women’s soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona on Sunday.

Atletico says no more tickets are available for the Spanish league match at the 68,000-capacity Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.

The crowd will likely be the largest ever for a club-level women’s match in Europe, beating the 48,121 record that Athletic Bilbao said it set in January in a Copa del Rey match against Atletico Madrid at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao.

Tickets for Sunday’s match started at five euros ($5.60) each, with Atletico club members being allowed to pick up entrances for free. The club said the game was “sold out” a few days in advance.

Last season, more than 22,000 watched Atletico’s women’s squad play its first game at the Wanda. It usually hosts its matches at a smaller venue in Madrid.

The two-time defending champion, Atletico Madrid has a six-point lead over Barcelona with seven matches left.

The women’s club game with the highest attendance in Europe reportedly was played in 1920, when 53,000 people watched Dick, Kerr Ladies play St. Helen’s Ladies at Everton’s Goodison Park stadium, according to the English Football Association.

The record for any women’s match was the 90,185 people who watched 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 United States defeat Japan 2-1 to win the gold medal.