Soccer tournament lifts pubs & kit sales in Australia

Block says spending linked to the global soccer tournament has lifted trade for Australian hospitality merchants and driven a sharp rise in team kit purchases through Afterpay. Its data points to a split between late-night venue spending and early-morning trading tied to live match schedules.

Figures from Square point-of-sale systems and Afterpay transactions show bars and pubs recorded a 5.6% rise in transactions and a 3.3% increase in revenue during the tournament group stage, compared with baseline periods. Unique visitors to venues rose 23.4% over the same period, suggesting matches are drawing larger crowds into licensed premises.

The strongest gains came at unusual hours. Late-night trade between 10pm and 1am rose 24.1% on match nights, while early-morning trade climbed 16.2% on days featuring North American kick-offs shown live in Australia from 5am AEST.

One day stood out in Block's figures, with bars and pubs posting a 7.3% all-day increase in trade. Repeat visits also edged higher, with the repeat-visit rate rising from 10.7% to 11.6%, and 126,244 customers returning to the same venues during the tournament period.

City patterns

The uplift was uneven across the country. Brisbane led the major metropolitan areas, with transactions up 15.8%, followed by Sydney at 6.5%, Perth at 3.7% and Adelaide at 3.4%. Melbourne was broadly flat at -0.1%.

At the suburb level, Northbridge in Perth posted the largest transaction increase at 25.1%. Cairns City followed at 22.8%, while Brunswick in Melbourne recorded a 19.8% uplift.

The results suggest the tournament's hospitality effect has been strongest in areas with established venue clusters and active sports-viewing crowds. They also show that national viewing habits are not translating evenly across all cities, even as televised matches attract larger audiences.

Shift in spending

Consumer spending linked to the tournament extended beyond pubs and bars. Afterpay reported a 763.1% year-on-year surge in purchases of national team kits ahead of the competition, while broader merchandise spending rose 152.1%.

The figures suggest a consumer response that begins before kick-off and continues away from venues. Supporters are spending not only on match viewing, but also on clothing and related goods tied to team identity.

Other hospitality categories saw smaller gains. Restaurants with sports viewing recorded a 1.7% increase in transactions, while food delivery orders rose 1.9% during the tournament period.

Those numbers suggest that while eating out has received a boost from match days, some households are still choosing to watch at home and order in. Even so, venue activity outpaced food delivery, indicating that live screenings and group viewing remain an important part of the tournament economy.

Drink sales

Basket size held steady during the period, but the mix of purchases shifted. Beer purchases rose 7.4%, wine increased 9.3% and spirits were up 6.7%.

Stable basket sizes alongside higher customer numbers suggest venue gains were driven more by footfall than by heavier individual spending. For operators, that may reflect a broader spread of customers across extended opening hours rather than a large increase in average spend per head.

Block's analysis was based on millions of transactions across Australian seller industries during the tournament period. The data captured both posted and pending card transactions, cash payments at Square sellers and Afterpay purchases, offering a view of how businesses and consumers responded at the same time.

Marco Lamantia, Executive Director, Square Australia, linked the figures to broader trading shifts among merchants. "Major global sporting events like the world's largest football tournament create ripple effects well beyond the pitch, and Square data shows Australian businesses are responding in real time," Lamantia said.

He said operators were changing hours and adjusting to shifting traffic patterns around live games. "Whether it's a pub adapting its trading hours for early kick-offs or a café capitalising on the surge in match-day foot traffic, the tournament is creating real, measurable economic opportunity. The data shows this tournament is creating measurable economic impact beyond just the host cities," Lamantia said.