Matildas bring in largest TV audience of women's team sport in Australian history

It was only two years ago that the Matildas were crowned Australia's most loved sporting team, but fans have gone one better making them Australia's most-watched women's sporting team in television history.

A record-breaking 1,468,747 tuned in to watch the Matildas take on Sweden in round two of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Women's Football Tournament.

Matildas Sweden

It was a massive milestone after an already impressive 916,000 watched their first-round victory against Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand.

Although the Aussies were defeated 2-4 in an entertaining end-to-end battle against the Swedes, almost one and a half million fans were glued to their devices from whistle to whistle.

To put this record-breaking number into context, the next largest Matildas' audience was recorded at 571,000 viewers when Australia took on Italy at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Outside of football, the previous record-holders for largest audience to tune into an Australian women's sports team was at the Australian Open.

Here, 806,000 people watched the women's semifinals and 1.41 million switched on for Naomi Osaka's win over Serena Williams.

 Sam Kerr #2 of Team Australia celebrates with team mates after scoring their side's second goal during the Women's First Round Group G match between Sweden and Australia on day one of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Saitama Stadium on July 24, 2021 in Saitama, Japan. (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)

The Matildas' viewership also eclipsed that of the Women's ICC T20 World Cup Final in March 2020, when 1.2 million viewers watched Australia take on India.

Tonight, the Matildas will take on long-time rivals the USA, and with a quarterfinals berth on the line, Australia's National Women's Football Team is hopeful fans and spectators will help break this record yet again.

Meanwhile, the Olyroos had 784,680 Australians tune in to their narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain on Sunday night. 

This was slightly less than in their win over Argentina, which was just over 800,000, but a massive clash against Egypt on Wednesday awaits!

Make sure to tune in and support the Olyroos as they hold an opportunity to advance past the group stage of the Olympic Games for the first time since 2004. 

Olyroos