July 13 – FIFA has been forced to take the drastic step of giving away 20,000 free tickets for Women’s World Cup games in four New Zealand cities amid concerns about the slow pace of sales.
Whilst the tournament has had a huge take-up in the other co-hosts, Australia, the lack of women’s football pedigree in New Zealand is proving more of a challenge.
Unlike Australia’s Matildas who have a genuine shot at the title, the so-called ‘Football Ferns’ have yet to win a match in five previous appearances at the World Cup.
Football is not generally a widely supported sport in New Zealand and attracting fans to stadiums in the coldest months of the year was always going to be a hard sell.
According to FIFA, 1.25 million tickets have been sold including 320,000 for matches in New Zealand but only six of those are close to a sell out.
As a result, Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin are being handed thousands of complimentary tickets by Xero – an official FIFA women’s football partner – to drum up support.
New Zealand kick off their campaign against former champions Norway in Auckland on July 20.
“We just want Kiwis to be able to experience some of these amazing athletes at this event, which is going to be the most-attended women’s sporting event in history,” said Xero general manager of brand and operations Valerie Walshe.
“Having access to these tickets means that more people will have the chance to be inspired by these athletes and we can hopefully grow the game locally within our football clubs all around the country.”
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