It’s already known that the U.S. Women’s National Team has broken many records in 2015, but not all records were broken on the pitch. In fact, starting in July, the WNT broke records each month thereafter.
It all started on July 5 in Vancouver, Canada. The WNT defeated Japan in what would be a record in itself, becoming the only team to win three Women’s World Cups. The crowd also won a record that day. The Final against Japan was watched by more than 60.7 million viewers worldwide, while just in the U.S. more than 25.4 million viewers tuned into the famous event. Overall, 750 million viewers tuned in to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, making it the most watched soccer tournament in men’s or women’s history.
But the WNT weren’t done breaking records after being crowned champions. Starting off their first leg of the Victory Tour at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the team drew 44,028 fans, making it the biggest crowd for a women’s match in the state of Pennsylvania. Next up was a sold out crowd in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where 20,535 fans packed a sold out Finley Stadium, breaking the attendance record for a women’s game in the state of Tennessee.
It only got better for the WNT, as in September the team garnered the biggest crowd for any USA match in Detroit and Birmingham with 34,538 and 35,735, respectively. In October, the WNT hosted Brazil in front of a record crowd of 23,693 in Seattle, Washington. December rounded out the final record breaking stretch of 2015. After hosting 19,066 fans in Glendale, Arizona and reaching 32,950 fans in attendance in New Orleans, Louisiana.
2016 is waiting for more records to be broken, starting with the WNT’s first match of the year against the Republic of Ireland at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, on Jan. 23 (2 p.m. PT, FS1).