CANBERRA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A record crowd is set to watch Australia in their final warm-up game ahead of the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Football Australia (FA) on Thursday announced that the national women's team's send-off match against France in Melbourne on Friday night has sold out.

It means that for the first time in history, more than 50,000 people will watch the Matildas play in Australia.

The record will likely be broken again when the Matildas open their World Cup campaign against Ireland at Stadium Australia on July 20 in front of an estimated 80,000 fans.

Speaking ahead of the match against France, Australia coach Tony Gustavsson said playing the fifth-ranked team in the world was ideal preparation for the historic home World Cup.

"It will be a good indicator of the starting line-up but also the finishing line-up [against Ireland]," he said.

"The one thing that will be different is because it's a send-off game and the last friendly before the World Cup. I'm also going to consider any type of niggles and minutes played - because it's all about the Ireland game."

The Matildas have not played a match since beating England in April, and Gustavsson said on Thursday he would ensure that as many players as possible get some minutes.

The record crowd for a Matildas game in Australia is 36,109 for a friendly against the United States in 2021.

The 2023 World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.

The top two teams from eight groups will progress to the round of 16, as this is the inaugural instance of the women's football's premier tournament expanding to a 32-team format.

After the opening match against Ireland, the Matildas will play Nigeria in Brisbane on July 27 and reigning Olympic champions Canada in Melbourne on July 31.

China, having secured the Asian Cup title last year, are placed in Group D alongside England, Denmark and Haiti.