32,000 Tickets Sold For Mexico Game

Ottawa, Ontario – The Canadian Soccer Association and the Local Organizing Committee today announced it has already sold 32,000 tickets for the upcoming international friendly between Canada’s Women’s World Cup Team and Mexico on August 31 at 2:00 p.m. at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.



“I am very proud and pleased to announce that through our partnership with the Local Soccer Districts in Alberta and the Alberta Soccer Association, 32,000 tickets for this game have already been sold,” said CSA President Andy Sharpe during the media conference.



“A special Alberta Soccer Membership program was started two months ago allowing District Associations to purchase general admission tickets for their players in large numbers at a cost of $5.00 a ticket. The remaining 8,000 tickets of the 40,000 seats set aside for this initiative are expected to be sold shortly. Today marks the first day that the remaining 20,000 seats are on sale at various outlets. We are very optimistic of matching and even surpassing the tremendous crowd and support which greeted our Under-19 players in the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship Final on September 1, 2002.”



Sharpe also announced the Canadian team will hold an open training session on August 27 at Clarke Stadium. Dubbed “Meet the Team Night”, the practice will be open to the public and will include an autograph signing session by the players. On August 28, a special Send-Off Dinner will be held for the team before it leaves for the 2003 Women’s World Cup in China in late September. Further details on the gala dinner will be announced at a later date.



In addition, Sharpe introduced the Minister of Health, The Honourable Anne McLellan as Honorary Chair of the game at the media conference.



“It is with great pleasure that I accept being named Honourary Chair of this international friendly with Mexico and to once again support our young women in Canada’s most popular sport,” said the Honourable Anne McLellan, who was Honourary Chair of the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship. “I am so pleased to be here to lend my support to the ambitions of this very talented group of players as they prepare for the Women’s World Cup.”



The media conference was also attended by Edmonton Mayor His Honour Bill Smith, Alberta Soccer Association President Mike Traficante, Local Organizing Committee Chair John Gill, and Women’s World Cup Team Co-captain Andrea Neil.



Tickets for the game are $18.00 for the Lower West Side reserved seats and $10.00 for General Admission rush seating. Tickets are now available at all Ticketmaster outlets in Canada, charge by phone (780-451-8000), www.ticketmaster.ca, and through the Alberta Soccer office at Commonwealth Stadium (780-474-2200), www.albertasoccer.com.