Local crowd support amazing, Fifa exec says

Fifa has acknowledged the crowd attendance during the duration of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Port Moresby.
Competitions manager women’s division Rebecca Smith said that more than 110,000 spectators attended the 30 matches in four stadiums.
“I have to be honest in saying that it is one of the best attended events we’ve had, not just in terms of numbers but in terms of atmosphere in the stadiums,” Smith said.
“I think that the crowd here have really got behind the football and not just the PNG women’s team but all the teams that participated in the tournament and it has been so fantastic to watch as there was a lot of interaction with the teams and the fan groups which you don’t see much in men’s football.
“So here in PNG, the experience with players and the spectators has been phenomenal.”  Local organising committee chief executive officer Seamus Marten highlighted the positive attitude of the teams that got eliminated.
“For them to take time out to thank their fans after their games shows the respect between the teams and the fans, and that is something that as a nation we have to be proud of and be passionate about how we support,” Marten said.
“From the LOC perspective, we were nervous about how the spectator numbers would turn out so we have been blown away, as well even internally about how fantastic it has been and is how the tickets of the grand final have been sold out.”
“As of Thursday morning the match tickets have been officially sold out we also had the fan zone which had been operating which had about 50,000 people go through during the duration of the tournament so overall it has been an overwhelming support.”