SYDNEY - FIFA has predicted the women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will be a "watershed" moment that propels the game to another level, with the target to eventually rival the men's version.
Women's football is already enjoying a surge in popularity in some countries, and the tournament looks set to spark further global interest.
With 100 days till kick-off, FIFA's chief women's football officer Sarai Bareman told NewsCorp Australia in comments published Tuesday that more than two billion viewers were expected to tune in, double the previous tournament in France, won by the United States.
Record attendance is also predicted, with 650,000 tickets already snapped up. The next phase of sales opened Tuesday.
Bareman said she believed the event would be a major turning point and a driver for social change, creating role models for young girls and helping promote gender equality.
"People will be saying, 'That was the watershed moment that changed everything and took the game to the next level'," she said.
"And that's in every aspect -- commercially, participation, popularity and growth.
"I think people will really look back and choose the women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as that watershed moment where the growth, which is already exponential, just took off to the absolute next level."
The tournament, which will take place in five Australian and four New Zealand cities, has been expanded from 24 to 32 teams for the first time.
It kicks off when New Zealand face Norway in Auckland and Australia meet Ireland in Sydney.