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FIFA president Gianni Infantino has threatened the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France with a broadcast blackout of the Women’s World Cup.
Writing on Instagram, Infantino claimed that viewing figures for the women’s competition are 50-60% of the men’s, but that rights bids are not matching up – with bids between $1m-$10m (£800k-£8m) instead of the $100m-$200m (£80m-£160m) for the men’s tournament. He said that this is a “slap in the face” to players and all women around the globe.
He said: “To be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the Fifa Women’s World Cup. Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the Fifa Women’s World Cup into the ‘big five’ European countries.”
He added: “The viewing figures of the Fifa Women’s World Cup are 50-60% of the men’s World Cup (which in turn are the highest of any event), yet the broadcasters’ offers in the ‘Big 5’ European countries for the Fifa Women’s World Cup are 20 to 100 times lower than for the men’s FIFA World Cup. This is a slap in the face of all the great Fifa Women’s World Cup players and indeed of all women worldwide.”
Infantino’s post in full
Today, I have repeated my call for broadcasters to pay a fair price for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 media rights. We did our part: FIFA has raised the prize money to USD 152 million, treble the amount paid in 2019 and ten times more than in 2015 (before I became FIFA President).
However, the offers from broadcasters, mainly in the ‘Big 5’ European countries, are still very disappointing and simply not acceptable, especially considering that:
1) 100% of any rights fees paid would go straight into women’s football, in our move to promote actions towards equal conditions and pay;
2) public broadcasters in particular have a duty to promote and invest in women’s sport;
3) the viewing figures of the FIFA Women’s World Cup are 50-60% of the men’s FIFA World Cup (which in turn are the highest of any event), yet the broadcasters’ offers in the ‘Big 5’ European countries for the FIFA Women’s World Cup are 20 to 100(!) times lower than for the men’s FIFA World Cup; and
4) concretely, whereas broadcasters pay USD 100-200 million for the men’s FIFA World Cup, they offer only USD 1-10 million for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This is a slap in the face of all the great FIFA Women’s World Cup players and indeed of all women worldwide.
So, to be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair (towards women and women’s football), we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup into the ‘Big 5’ European countries.
I call, therefore, on all players (women and men), fans, football officials, Presidents, Prime Ministers, politicians and journalists all over the world to join us and support this call for a fair remuneration of women’s football.
Women deserve it! As simple as that!
ITV and the BBC have both been linked with the Women’s World Cup in the UK, but FIFA chief business officer Romy Gai revealed last year that bids from the UK, Italy, France, and Germany had been rejected, explaining: “This is not a case of being priced out, but rather testament to a lack of willingness of broadcasters to pay what the women’s game deserves.”
The 2022 Women’s Euros broke viewing figures records in the UK, with England’s win over Germany in the final attracting 17.5 million to the BBC. This helped an overall growth in women’s sport viewing of 131% in 2022, according to the Women’s Sport Trust and Futures Sport & Entertainment.
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