The University of Georgia women's soccer team made history on Thursday night, August 20, in its season opener against James Madison at Sanford Stadium — the Bulldogs' 93,033-seat football stadium in Athens.

It broke the all-time NCAA single-game soccer attendance record for both men's and women's divisions with a massive crowd of 25,433 fans.

Popular social media account Pop Base shared the news on X.

"The University of Georgia's women's soccer team has set a record for the best-attended NCAA soccer game in history, with a crowd of 25,433," Pop Base posted on X.

The previous women's NCAA attendance record was 14,410 fans. It was set back in 1999 during a national championship game between North Carolina and Notre Dame in San Jose, California.

The men's overall record was 22,512 fans, set in 1980 when Saint Louis played Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

"Attendance broke the previous men's record by nearly 3k and the previous women's record by over 10k," Pop Base added in their post on X.

Bulldogs' regular home stadium, the Turner Soccer Complex, holds about 1,700 people.

In one night at Sanford Stadium, Georgia welcomed more fans than across all 12 home games in the 2025 season.

This special match, nicknamed 'Soccer in Sanford,' was organized to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold-medal match.

It was also played at Sanford Stadium when the U.S. Women’s National Team won its first Olympic gold medal by beating China 2-1 in front of 76,489 fans in attendance.

Three decades later, Georgia wasted no time giving the home crowd something to cheer about. In the eighth minute, sophomore forward Mya Townes kicked off the scoring with a left-footed shot into the net.

Georgia then doubled its lead in the 22nd minute. Senior midfielder Honoka Hamano finished a chance from Emma Pettersen to make it 2-0.

Then Ava Stack scored in the 34th minute, sending Georgia into halftime with a 3-0 advantage. Georgia ended the game with a 6-0 win, with five different players scoring.

The record-breaking night in Athens is the latest example of how fast women's soccer is growing across the United States.

A rising wave across women's soccer

Just last month, Gotham FC played the Washington Spirit at Citi Field in Queens for the first-ever National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) match in New York City.

A sold-out crowd of 42,175 fans showed up to watch Rose Lavelle score the winning goal, while Australian star Sam Kerr made her return after six years away.

The game set a record for the largest women's sports crowd in New York.

Back in August 2025, 40,091 fans attended Bay FC vs. Washington Spirit at Oracle Park. It was the largest single-game crowd in league history at that time.

The growth is happening off the field, too.

The NWSL reported a 22% increase in TV viewership for its 2025 season, with fans streaming a record 2.62 billion minutes of coverage.

Six different teams averaged over 10,000 fans per home game, and the league's social media followers on TikTok doubled.

And now the massive crowd at Sanford Stadium was just another example of this unbelievable momentum.

Written by

Md Saife Fida