Dunedin venue manager Mike McGarry is hailing the city's part in the Fifa Under-20 World Cup as a ''great success''.
Serbia and Hungary brought the curtain down on the beautiful game's time in the limelight in Dunedin on Wednesday night, with Serbia prevailing in extra time.
The round-of-16 clash, which attracted a crowd of 3917, was the seventh and final game under the roof in Otago Stadium.
In total, 24,546 people went through the gates to watch five group D games involving Serbia, Mexico, Uruguay and Mali, a group C game between Portugal and Colombia, and the round-of-16 game.
The largest crowd was last Saturday, when 9048 turned out for the Portugal-Colombia and Serbia-Mexico doubleheader.
''It sort of averaged 6000 per match day - very happy with that,'' McGarry said.
''It would always be nice to have a few more, but the weather being what it was [last Wednesday] maybe dropped us down a few thousand.
''But the atmosphere in the stadium was top-notch. I thought the football was out of this world. We won't see that sort of football for a while.''
McGarry said it would have been nice if Dunedin had been awarded a quarterfinal, but admitted he had to be happy hosting seven games after it originally looked as if the city would not host a group.
McGarry was most impressed with Serbia, which played all four of its games in Dunedin, and will now play the United States in Auckland on Sunday in the quarterfinals.
The All Whites great is tipping Portugal and Serbia as potential winners.
McGarry took over from Aaron Joy, who was injured in a car accident in February at East Taieri, as the Dunedin venue manager in April, and will return to his teaching job at Otago Boys' High School next week.
''I absolutely loved it,'' he said.
''I had a ball - 24 hours a day football for a couple of months.''