Georgia draws NCAA-record 25,433 for soccer game at football’s Sanford Stadium

ATHENS, Ga. — Playing between the hedges at football’s Sanford Stadium, and with coach Kirby Smart watching, the Georgia women’s soccer team on Thursday night set an attendance record for any college soccer match.

An announced crowd of 25,433 saw Georgia’s 6-0 win over James Madison, easily topping the previous record for a women’s soccer match: 14,410, in the 1999 championship between North Carolina and Notre Dame in San Jose, Calif.

Thursday’s crowd also exceeded the men’s soccer attendance record set in 1980, when 22,512 watched a match between Saint Louis and SIU Edwardsville at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Tickets to Thursday’s match — dubbed “Soccer at Sanford” — were free, although fans had to pay for parking and concessions. They also had to deal with a 98-degree temperature at kickoff.

Georgia’s effort to break the attendance record was in the works since the spring, with Georgia anticipating fresh excitement after the men’s World Cup. Atlanta hosted eight World Cup matches, including a semifinal game in which Argentina eliminated England.

Sanford Stadium was also the site, 30 years ago this month, where the U.S. women’s national team won the gold-medal match over China in the Summer Olympics. That match drew 76,481, setting what at the time was an international attendance record for any women’s sporting event.

The famous hedges were removed from Sanford Stadium for that occasion. But on Thursday they remained.

Kirby Smart showed up to support @UGASoccer as they play in Sanford Stadium 👏 pic.twitter.com/7uuTR35p80

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) August 20, 2026

Georgia’s redcoat band also performed in its usual spot for football games; the entire lower half of the stadium’s north side was filled, along with some in the mezzanine level. (The south side was roped off so that the crowd would not be spread out around the 93,000-capacity stadium.)

Smart, in his red visor, watched from the field, near the goal where Georgia scored three times in the first half, including on a penalty kick. A few days before, Smart’s football players squared off in a penalty-kick contest against the women’s soccer players: The football players went 7-for-10, the women went 10-for-10.

The highest attendance for a Georgia women’s soccer home match last season was 2,551, a tie against Florida.