Fifa Women’s World Cup: ticket sales stall but tournament will win over sceptics, says Infantino
- Fifa president Gianni Infantino says next month will prove women’s game not just ‘a bad copy’ of men’s
- Despite predictions that 2 billion people will watch globally, ticket sales have been sluggish locally
Fifa president Gianni Infantino said women’s football had experienced incredible growth over the past 10 years and was confident the World Cup would win over anyone who remained sceptical about the merits of the game.
The sport’s governing body expects 2 billion people to tune in for the 64-game tournament being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, with the event set to kick off in Auckland on Thursday.
Infantino said people who still thought women’s football was “a bad copy” of the men’s game would have their minds changed.
“When they watch a game for the first time they will actually see that it’s a fantastic game,” Infantino said. “The level has grown incredibly in the last 10 years and the best are coming here.”
Infantino said if there was one sport where the women’s game could compete with the men’s it would be football.
“I mean, it’s 50 per cent of the population, women around the world, more or less, right?” he said. “It’s really inconceivable, intellectually, that there is not one sport that can compete with some of the men’s sports.”