Soccer History | Estadio Azteca — The 110,000 That No Record Book Counts

On 5 September 1971, Denmark beat Mexico 3-0 in a World Cup final at the Estadio Azteca. Around 110,000 people were inside the ground. No record book counts it, because FIFA had not sanctioned the tournament. The organiser was FIEFF, a European body whose name is expanded several different ways across English and Spanish sources, backed by the Italian drinks firm Martini & Rossi. It had run a first tournament in Italy in 1970 and brought the second to Mexico, where the men's World Cup of 1970 had left behind both the stadiums and the appetite. FIFA's executive committee had discussed women's football that January and concluded it could not organise such a competition, on the reasoning that this kind of football needed to run through national associations. The mechanism that let it happen anyway is the part worth keeping. Accounts differ sharply on the Mexican federation's stance. One has it promoting the tournament as hard as it had promoted the men's World Cup; another has it threatening to fine any club that let women play in its grounds. Either way, the two venues used — the Azteca and the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara — were privately owned. The federation did not control them, and their operators wanted the broadcast money. The tournament was staged in the gaps of the governing structure rather than with its blessing. Six teams took part: Mexico, Denmark, England, France, Italy and Argentina. Eleven matches, 39 goals, with Lis Lene Nielsen of Denmark the top scorer on five. The organisers painted the goalposts pink, put staff in pink uniforms, and gave the tournament a mascot called Xochitl. Susanne Augustesen is usually credited with a hat-trick in the final at the age of fifteen. At least one detailed account records that one of the three was an own goal forced from an opponent, which would make it two. Then the whole thing was put away. The Danish federation did not recognise the win. The England players were sanctioned on returning home for taking part in an unauthorised competition, and are known now as the Lost Lionesses. The first Women's World Cup FIFA recognises is China 1991. Mexico's 1971 squad were formally honoured in 2026, fifty-five years afterwards. That 110,000 is still larger than any officially recognised attendance for a women's match. The recognised record is the 91,648 Barcelona drew at the Camp Nou in April 2022. This entry is pinned where the final was played. The photograph shows those same stands, empty. Sources: Wikipedia; Forbes; ESPN Deportes; Power Plays; femgol; Fierce by Mitú; Variety. Cover photo: Luicheto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.