FIFA president Gianni Infantino is urging New Zealanders to buy tickets to the Women’s World Cup as sales slump.
Infantino on Wednesday encouraged fans in his country to buy tickets for the sporting event, which is co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia and takes place from July 20 to Aug. 20, CNN reported. Tickets were still available the night before the event began, according to the outlet.
“New Zealand, we want you. We need you,” Infantino said during an Auckland press conference, CNN reported. “It’s never too late to do the right thing. Come to watch the matches. We need full stadiums to warm us all up.”
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The global games had sold more than one million tickets as of early June, but New Zealanders still have an opportunity to attend as some seats remain available for purchase. Australia has not faced the same trouble selling tickets as New Zealand, according to CNN. (RELATED: Team USA Advances In World Cup After Huge Win Over Iran)
“We still have tickets available for some matches, so my only plea is don’t wait until the last moment,” FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura said at the presser, the outlet reported.
Women’s World Cup official partner Xero has offered 20,000 complimentary tickets to games in New Zealand’s four host cities, according to CNN. Sporting events usually reserve a certain amount of complimentary tickets for spectators.
“Many people who still believe that women’s football is not, you know, great, a great game or it’s not so entertaining or it’s a kind of a bad copy of men’s football, or some stuff like that. Well, when they watch a game for the first time, they will actually see that it’s a fantastic game. It’s very entertaining,” Infantino said, the outlet reported.
The level of women’s soccer “has grown incredibly in the last 10 years,” the FIFA president emphasized. For the first time ever, Women’s World Cup players will each receive at least $30,000 from the $110 million prize pot as part of $152 million total payout for players, clubs and federations.
“Whatever payments we do, we do through the associations, and then the associations will, of course, make the relevant payments to their own players,” Infantino said, according to CNN.