The Women’s World Cup, which takes place in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20, has still not found TV broadcasters in the five major European countries, including France, which hosted the last edition in 2019. A situation strongly criticized by Gianni Infantino, boss of Fifa.
Due to financial offers deemed insufficient, Fifa has still not reached an agreement with France, England, Germany, Spain and Italy. A situation that is beginning to annoy the boss of the international football body, Gianni Infantino. Monday, May 1, during a meeting in Geneva, Infantino urged them to quickly find a solution to broadcast the 2023 World Cup. To be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the Women’s World Cup. “, he says. Infantino evokes a ” slap ” forare players And “ all the women in the world “.
Unfair offers according to Fifa
With the time difference, matches are usually played early in the morning for European countries. “ Maybe it won’t be shown in prime time in Europe, but still, it will be at 9 or 10, which is a perfectly reasonable time. “, argues Infantino. “ If the offers continue to be unfair, we will be forced to not broadcast the Women’s World Cup in the European Big 5 countries. “Launches Infantino, specifying that the broadcasters had only offered between one and ten million dollars for the television rights, while the latter had offered up to 200 million dollars for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
“ 100% of paid fees would go directly to women’s football, as part of our drive for equal pay and conditions. Public broadcasters in particular have a duty to promote and invest in women’s sport, emphasizes the leader. Audience figures for the Women’s World Cup are 50-60% of those for the Men’s World Cup, but broadcaster offers in the big five European countries for the Women’s World Cup are 20 to 100 times lower than those of the Men’s World Cup. »
” Fifa has increased the amount of the endowment to 152 million dollars (about 139 million euros), i.e. triple the amount paid in 2019 and ten times more than in 2015 (before I became president)”, also explains Infantino on social networks.
” We can’t play only in Europe »
FIFA signs contracts directly with broadcasters, without going through an intermediary agency. Gianni Infantino had already expressed his dissatisfaction during the draw last October in Auckland: “ The broadcasters offer us a hundred times less than what they give us for the Men’s World Cup ». The boss of Fifa had judged these offers ” unacceptable »knowing that the television channels ” push us to do more for equality ».
” It’s a sport for everyone, we can’t only play in Europe even if it’s more comfortable, we have to develop women’s football everywhere. Oceania is magic for China and Japan for example », insists a source close to the instance to AFP. Except that Japan does not have a broadcaster at the moment!
In the French daily West France, the economist Luc Arrondel analyzes the absence, in France, of a broadcaster. He judges that Fifa, which for the first time is marketing the TV rights of the Women’s World Cup separately from that of the Men’s World Cup, has made the wrong choice. “ There are several factors: the date is not optimal. There is also the time difference. I’m going to say the smallest things, but broadcasters need to have people in front of their television, if only to sell their advertising inserts, because that’s the way to make their investments profitable. The fear is that there will be too few people watching the matches, especially those in the group stage »he says.
First edition with 32 teams
During the 2002 Men’s World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the match schedules were not favorable to Europe. Also FIFA had proposed a pack for the 2002 and 2006 edition in Germany. Impossible to broadcast the German edition by obscuring the World Cup in Asia.
” I think it would have been best to negotiate the two together (Men’s World Cup in Qatar in 2022 and women’s edition 2023, editor’s note), and then redistribute. I don’t see what’s stopping them from doing that. If there is a body that can, it is precisely an international body like Fifa. She has enough money, big reserves… If the leaders want to develop women’s football, they have the capacity to do so. From a strategic point of view, I don’t really understand this story of wanting to separate these two competitions. Sometimes, women’s sports activists push in this direction. But from an economic point of view, is it a good solution ? I am afraid that is no »argues Luc Arrondel.
The ninth Women’s World Cup in history will be the first with 32 teams. Sixty-four meetings are on the program. Hervé Renard’s France team will play its three group stage matches (Jamaica, Brazil, Panama) at noon Paris time (10:00 GMT). ” We need you », had launched the new coach of the Blue several times to the media, during his first meeting in April. In the absence of a broadcaster, his announcement of the list for the World Cup, at the beginning of June, could not be done on the premises of a channel, but at one of the sponsors.