Tottenham heads to New Zealand for match in front of likely record crowd

Tottenham Hotspur will begin a tour of New Zealand and Australia on Sunday when they play Auckland FC at Eden Park, and the match is “expected to attract the biggest crowd for a men’s match in New Zealand football history.” More than 36,000 tickets had been sold by Thursday night, and organizers “expect that number could top 40,000 by Sunday afternoon.” The current record of 37,034 was set in 2017 for a New Zealand national game against Peru. The expected crowd “underscores the status” of Tottenham in New Zealand, as the club remains “one of the most popular teams, despite relative struggles in recent years” (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 7/23).