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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.
"Many people who believe that women's football is still not a
great game, or it's not so entertaining or it’s 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," said Infantino.
"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% 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."
Auckland, which is smaller than most of its host city
counterparts in Australia, will stage the opening ceremony and
the first match between New Zealand and Norway on Thursday.
But while overall ticket sales surpassed 1 million more than a
month ago, the slow pace of sales in New Zealand has prompted
concern. FIFA said last week it was giving away 20,000 free
tickets in New Zealand.
"New Zealand: We want you. We need you," said Infantino. "It's
never too late to do the right thing."
FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said a total of 1.375
million tickets had been sold across the tournament so far.
The ninth edition of the Women's World Cup runs from July 20
through Aug. 20.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Auckland; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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