FIFA President Wants Fans To 'Do The Right Thing' And Buy Women's World Cup Tickets

The president of FIFA is pleading with fans in New Zealand and Australia to buy tickets to the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup.

Not because he thinks they'd enjoy it or because FIFA likes money, but instead implored them to "do the right thing."

“New Zealand, we want you. We need you,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said during a press conference in Auckland, per CNN.

“It’s never too late to do the right thing. Come to watch the matches. We need full stadiums to warm us all up."

Wow. It's never good when you have to convince people that they have a moral obligation to do something.

This comes as ticket sales for the big event have taken a dip. Infantino chalked this up to fans stealing seeing the Women's World Cup as inferior to the Men's World Cup. However, he said this edition will make those critics change their tunes.

“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," he said. “Well, when they watch a game for the first time, they will actually see that it’s a fantastic game. It’s very entertaining. It’s great athletes playing, the level has grown incredibly in the last 10 years, and the best are coming here.”

FIFA, Infantino Aren't Making A Pitch That Will Appeal To World Cup Skeptucs

I feel like Infantino's argument hear would be far more compelling if he hadn't started with the "do the right thing" line. If he just said, "We've got a product that kicks ass" (maybe not in those terms) he'd have a better argument.

I enjoy the Women's World Cup, but any skeptics aren't going to be convinced by that argument. Those comments don't even really read like Infantino buys it 100%.

During that same presser, he was joined by FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura. She also did her best to deliver a whimpering sales pitch.

“We still have tickets available for some matches, so my only plea is don’t wait until the last moment," she said.

Surely a lot of female soccer players won't be too pleased to see FIFA scrambling and begging people to watch them play just days before the start of the tournament.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle