Canberra has emphatically thrown its support behind the Socceroos, with more than 12,000 tickets sold for the World Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan within the first three days of going on sale.
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Tickets for the November 12 encounter at Canberra Stadium go on sale to the general public on Friday.
The football family, which includes Capital Football players, officials and volunteers, along with people who have registered on the Football Federation Australia website, were able to buy tickets from Tuesday.
It means the Socceroos are on track to play in front of a crowd in excess of 20,000 in their first game in Canberra since 2011.
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou said it was important to get big crowds in their home games to counter the advantage opposing sides have on their turf.
Nearly 20,000 people turned out to see the Socceroos thump Bangladesh 5-0 at Perth Oval earlier in September.
"It's the reason we're coming to places like Perth and Canberra, to take the game to the people," Postecoglou said.
"We've seen already when we played in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan how the crowd get behind their team and they make the atmosphere pretty hostile for the opposition, and that's what we need.
"We need our crowds to get behind the Socceroos so visiting teams don't like coming here."
FFA chief executive David Gallop said he had been thrilled with how the Canberra community had gotten behind the game.
"We have had a tremendous response from the Football Family in Canberra with 12,000 tickets already snapped up for the Socceroos World Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan in November," Gallop said.
"Canberra Stadium is already half full for the match and tickets go on sale on Friday morning to the general public to watch the Asian Cup Champions in Canberra.
"This is a great opportunity for Canberrans to see the likes of Tom Rogic, Aaron Mooy, Massimo Luongo, Tim Cahill and the Socceroos stars in action in what is shaping as an important match for the team in their World Cup qualifying campaign."
The strong support for the Socceroos game comes after more than 82,000 people attended the seven Asian Cup games at Canberra Stadium in January.
That included a capacity crowd for the epic quarter-final between Iraq and Iran, which Iraq won on a penalty shootout after the match was tied at 3-3 at the end of extra-time.
Tickets can be purchased from www.socceroos.com.au/tickets.
