Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) has confirmed that Rugby World Cup 2007 was the most successful Rugby World Cup tournament in its 20-year history.

The tournament, held in France, smashed all previous attendance, broadcast and economic impact figures, reinforcing its stature as one of the world's largest sporting events.

The figures released following the meeting of the RWCL Board in Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday confirm that Tournament attendance shattered the previous record set in Australia in 2003. Over 2 million attended a Rugby World Cup for the first time with the total attendance reaching 2.25 million. This represents an average match attendance of 47,000 across the 48 Tournament matches in France, Scotland and Wales, with a 97% attendance rate across the 42 matches held in France.

"Rugby World Cup is a major event on the global sporting calendar and Rugby World Cup 2007 was the biggest sporting event to be staged last year. The Rugby was of exceptional standard, generating fascinating matches both in the pool stages and the knock-out rounds. Off the field the tournament captured the hearts and minds of the French public and the wider global Rugby Community," said International Rugby Board Chairman, Bernard Lapasset.

"Mirroring the massive demand for public ticket sales, the tournament's travel and hospitality programme exceeded 100,000 sales. This is more than the 1999 and 2003 Tournaments combined, highlighting the tremendous success of the commercial corporate hospitality and international travel programme managed on behalf of RWCL by Rugby Travel Hospitality 2007 (RTH07). Significantly, over 80 percent of all corporate hospitality sales were generated through the French market," added Lapasset.

Backing up the record attendance figures was massive interest from international broadcasters. In total 119 international broadcasters televised the action across 202 TV territories with a potential cumulative reach of over 4.2 billion (up 800 million on RWC 2003). Live coverage also increased dramatically on 2003 levels from 5,500 hours to over 8,500 broadcast hours (up 3,000 hours).

It was not just in the major Rugby markets where broadcast coverage increased. Television coverage doubled in Spain, Italy, Portugal and across Asia, while enhanced levels of coverage were also gained in the emerging Rugby markets of Russia, India, Canada and the USA, highlighting Rugby's growing global appeal.

"It is also significant to note that RWC 2007 matches were the top six viewed programmes of any description in France during 2007, while over 20 million viewers in France tuned in to watch the France versus England semi-final at Stade de France, bettering the figure achieved for the soccer World Cup final involving France at the same stadium in 1998," said Lapasset.

"Coverage of the England versus South Africa final attracted the highest viewing figures for a single programme in the UK in 2007 with nearly 17 million tuning in to see whether England could retain the Webb Ellis Cup," added Lapasset. RWC 2007 matches also topped the year's programming in South Africa and New Zealand.

Rugby World Cup 2007 brought in 400,000 additional visitors to France last September-October delivering a total economic impact of €4 billion. In late April/early May RWCL will announce the financial impact of the tournament for the world Game.

Total Cumulative Television Audience 1987-2007

1987 New Zealand 230 million
1991 UK and France 1.4 billion
1995 South Africa 2.3 billion
1999 UK and France 3.1 billion
2003 Australia 3.4 billion
2007 France 4.2 billion * record

Total Attendance

1987 New Zealand 600,000
1991 UK and France 1,000,000
1995 South Africa 1,100,000
1999 UK and France 1,700,000
2003 Australia 1,900,000
2007 France 2,240,000 * record