Alessandro Del Piero a crowd puller in A-League

Former Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero is proving every bit the drawcard A-League officials hoped with tickets for his Australian debut selling faster than anticipated.

Del Piero is due to make his first A-League appearance for Sydney FC against the Wellington Phoenix in Wellington on Oct. 6 and his impact was immediately apparent when tickets went on sale Friday.

Phoenix general manager David Dome said "we're 10 times more than where we'd normally be. It's pointing to a very big crowd. If they continue to sell like this, it'll be huge."

The Phoenix home stadium holds 34,000 fans and has never been filled for an A-League match. Dome said "I don't want to start talking about a sell-out or anything like that, but we're looking at a big crowd."