More than 1.1 million tickets have already been sold for the upcoming Women’s Football World Cup, but Fifa bosses are still keeping a close eye on New Zealand.

“I have to say my focus is a little bit more on New Zealand as we don’t have the luxury of the Matildas here,” Fifa chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman tells The Front Page podcast.

“In Australia, they are the darlings of the country. Sam Kerr is an absolute superstar and the whole country is in love with football because of the Matildas. There’s that selling power that the Matildas have that we don’t quite have here yet in New Zealand with the Football Ferns. So there’s a bit more of a lift to do in the coming weeks.”

While more tickets have already been sold than were sold for the entire World Cup in France four years ago, there are still concerns about empty seats at some of the games.

Getting New Zealand onboard with the World Cup is personal for Bareman, a West Aucklander who has had a meteoric rise up the ranks at Fifa.

“I grew up in Massey and started playing football in high school. My first sport before that was always rugby, but I played football for a long, long time.”

Growing up, Bareman didn’t have access to any of the professionalism that’s evident across the women’s game today.

“I never dreamed to play professionally and I didn’t. I played for the national team in Samoa, but even then, it was a completely amateur environment. And even, when I was representing the national team, I was playing at a time when there weren’t any matches being played. We played maybe three matches. So that’s definitely changed.”

Today, there are 188 member associations with active women’s national teams and the upcoming World Cup will showcase 32 of the world’s best.

Bareman hopes the event will serve as a particularly significant moment for young girls around New Zealand who will be able to see the best football athletes from around the world compete here in New Zealand.

“It’s going to be uplifting,” says Bareman.

“For young girls to be able to see women who look like them playing on the world stage in full stadiums and an incredible atmosphere and to have the focus of everyone on women, it’s will be something quite amazing to witness.”

Creating that atmosphere will, however, depend on filling seats and getting down to the games. For Kiwis still sitting on the fence about whether to buy some tickets, Barman has a simple message.

“Get off the fence. Get involved. Honestly, this is going to be the biggest sporting event this country has seen. You don’t want to be that person in five, 10 or 15 years - when everyone is talking about the World Cup - who can’t contribute because you weren’t there.”

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page to hear more from Bareman on the issues of pay equity and TV rights. Plus we talk with NZ Herald sports journalist Bonnie Jansen about why there’s still work to be done from the grassroots all the way to the top of the game.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It’s presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist, with a background in business reporting, who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.