The opening game of the FIFA Women's World Cup between hosts France and South Korea attracted record viewing figures ©Getty Images

The opening game of the FIFA Women's World Cup between hosts France and South Korea attracted record viewing figures for a women's match in the country.

A total of 9.83 million people tuned in to watch France win 4-0 in front of a sell-out crowd at Parc des Princes on the TF1 channel.

A further 828,000 viewed the match on Canal+, according to the television channel's statistics.

It means more than 10 million watched some part of the game in the host nation.

British broadcaster the BBC reported a peak audience of 2.9 million, despite England not being involved.

France won the opening match of the World Cup 4-0 against South Korea ©Getty Images
France won the opening match of the World Cup 4-0 against South Korea ©Getty Images

The figures mark a promising start for the tournament and world governing body FIFA, which has promised this year's competition will be the launchpad for further exposure for women's football.

More than 750 million television viewers watched the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada four years ago.

Figures from the tournament show 764 million in-home TV viewers watched at least one minute of match action.

The BBC also reported that close to one million tickets had been sold for the 2019 tournament, which concludes with the final in Lyon on July 7.