FIFA President Appeals to New Zealanders: Let’s Fill the Stadiums and Support Women’s Football!

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, pleaded with New Zealanders on Wednesday “to do the right thing” in the face of sluggish ticket sales for the Women’s World Cup in the nation.

A month ago, more than a million tickets had been sold for the international extravaganza, which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20. Unlike Australia, where attendance has been slow, New Zealand has tickets still on sale one day before the tournament begins.

“We need you, New Zealand. At a press conference in Auckland, New Zealand, Infantino begged the audience “.

It’s never too late to act morally. Come to the games to watch. To warm us all up, we need packed stadiums, he continued.

Fatma Samoura, the secretary general of FIFA, echoed Infantino’s advice to the Kiwis, saying, “My only plea is don’t wait until the last minute.” For some of the games, we still have tickets available.

She went on to say that they hope this will also be the biggest women’s sports event ever. It already is, but they hope to set a new record. “You can still apply for most of the games and get your ticket,” she said.

The Women’s World Cup’s official sponsor, Xero, confirmed to CNN Sport on Wednesday that it had provided 20,000 free tickets to matches in New Zealand’s four host cities.

It’s typical for sporting events to give fans a certain number of free tickets.

According to a Xero spokesperson, the free ticket allocation has been used up and no more tickets are being made available as part of this initiative.

Infantino also lauded the development of the women’s game over the previous ten years and is confident that the tournament will convince skeptics.

“There are still many people who think that women’s football is not a great sport, an entertaining game, a poor imitation of men’s football, or other things along those lines. They’ll notice that a game is fantastic when they watch it for the first time. It’s delightful. The level has increased significantly over the past ten years, and the best athletes are coming here to compete,” he continued.

FIFA ensures direct payments for Women’s World Cup players for the first time in history. Each player will receive a minimum of $30,000 from the tournament’s record $110 million prize pool, which is a portion of the $152 million in total compensation for players, clubs, and federations.

Infantino went on to say that it was up to the federations to see to it that the players got their money.

“Whatever payments we do, we do through the associations, and then the associations will, of course, make the relevant payments to their players,” he continued.

The Women’s World Cup kicks off on Thursday at Eden Park with co-host New Zealand taking on Norway.

So, in one line FIFA president calls attention to inequality – FIFA president appeals to New Zealanders: let’s fill the stadiums and support women’s football