In a desperate attempt to generate interest in the lackluster event, FIFA President Gianni Infantino pleaded with New Zealand fans "to do the right thing" and spend their hard-earned money on tickets for the women's soccer showcase.
This is a hard sell as the people of New Zealand are not already huge soccer fans, and the event takes place in one of the coldest months of the year for their country.
From CNN:
Ticket sales for the global showpiece, which is being co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia from July 20 to August 20, surpassed a million tickets a month ago. But uptake has been slow in New Zealand, with tickets still available for sale on the eve of the tournament kicking off, unlike in Australia.
“New Zealand, we want you. We need you,” Infantino pleaded at press conference in Auckland, New Zealand.
“It’s never too late to do the right thing. Come to watch the matches. We need full stadiums to warm us all up,” he added.
Speaking alongside Infantino, FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura echoed his plea to Kiwis saying, “We still have tickets available for some matches, so my only plea is don’t wait until the last moment.
“You still can apply and get your ticket for the majority of the matches, and we hope that this will be also the most attended women’s sporting event – it is already, but that we will be reaching record figures,” she added.
Xero, the official partner of the Women’s World Cup, confirmed to CNN Sport on Wednesday that it had offered 20,000 complimentary tickets to games in New Zealand’s four host cities.
It is common for sporting events to allocate a certain number of complimentary tickets to fans.
A Xero spokesperson added that complimentary ticket allocation has been exhausted and there were no further tickets available as a part of this initiative.
How pathetic – they can't even give these tickets away!
And what does this FIFA president mean by saying "do the right thing?"
It almost sounds like he's trying to allude to some type of social issue here...
