Was this the smallest crowd ever seen for a sports event at Eden Park?

Friday, 8 May 2026

Eden Park has hosted some of the biggest sporting occasions New Zealand has ever seen, including three Rugby World Cup finals, two Cricket World Cup semifinals and a FIFA Women’s World Cup semifinal.

The stands at the 45,000-capacity venue were packed for those matches – and for many more.

But on Thursday night, a meagre crowd was in attendance for the first double-header in the new Oceania Pro League football competition’s bottom-four Challengers Group.

The vast majority of those present at Eden Park can be seen in this screenshot from an OFC social media video.

Solomon Kings beat Tahiti United 2-1 and Vanuatu United beat PNG Hekari 3-1, so there were plenty of goals on display.

But there were just 296 fans in attendance to see them, according to the figure listed on the Oceania Football Confederation’s official match report document for the Vanuatu-PNG fixture.

Only the small seating area on level four of the South Stand, in front of hospitality lounges, was open.

Auckland FC supporter Blair Warner was among those in attendance.

Among those present was well-known Auckland FC support Blair Warner.

He said: “Vanuatu United and PNG Hekari fans may have only numbered in the hundreds but they made sure their presence didn't go unnoticed.

“They kept the cheers and jeers going relentlessly for the full 90 minutes.”

The lowest crowd figure recorded for a sports event at Eden Park in 2025, according to its annual report, was 1300, for a Farah Palmer Cup/National Provincial Championship double-header.

The last triple-digit crowd was seen in early 2024, when 545 people attended a rare Twenty20 Super Smash double-header played inside the main stadium, rather than on the Outer Oval.

An Auckland–Manawatū NPC match in 2023 was watched by 973 people, while a figure of 613 was listed for a Blues-Chiefs Super Rugby Pacific match in 2022, played while Covid-19 restrictions were still in place.

No crowd smaller than 296 was listed in annual reports going back to 2017.

An empty north stand was visible at the coin toss as Vanuatu United took on PNG Hekari FC.

The Oceania Pro League is backed by central funding from FIFA for its first four seasons, but has largely struggled to attract fans, with the matches in Honiara in the Solomon Islands in April a notable exception.

A comparably small crowd was present on Wednesday night at Go Media Stadium, where New Zealand clubs Auckland FC and South Island United were in action as the top-four Leaders Group got underway.

It has three more days of matches scheduled at Eden Park, which hosted the first two matchdays in January.

The second and third rounds of the Leaders Group will be played there on Saturday and next Tuesday, as will the inaugural grand final on May 24.

Auckland FC and South Island United will be in action there on Saturday, against Bula FC at 2.30pm and South Melbourne FC at 6.30pm respectively.

The latter match clashes with Auckland FC’s A-League Men semifinal fixture against Adelaide United at Go Media Stadium, which is set to kick off at 6pm.