‘We will be forced not to broadcast the Women’s World Cup’ – FIFA president Gianni Infantino threatens blackout

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has threatened to cancel the 2023 Women’s World Cup in portions of Europe if broadcasters’ bids are not “fair.”

For the first time this year, FIFA is selling the rights to the women’s and men’s tournaments separately, and Infantino has stated that offers from the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France were “disappointing” and a “slap in the face” to the players.Information Guide Nigeria

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While it was reported that the highlight event would sell a record 1.5 million tickets, it was also suggested that up to two billion viewers would be watching from afar. Thus, broadcasting rights are a critical issue that must be resolved.

For the 2019 Women’s World Cup, Fox and NBC Sports held those rights in the United States, for English and Spanish speakers, respectively, while the BBC was the sole broadcaster in the United Kingdom. Other free broadcasting services in Europe were TF1 in France, ARD and ZDF in Germany, RAI in Italy, and Gol in Spain. Infantino’s remarks come at the end of a challenging few months for FIFA’s global event, with various difficulties surrounding the men’s World Cup in Qatar.NYSC Portal

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The offers from broadcasters, mainly in the ‘big five’ European countries, are still very disappointing,” Infantino said. “Whereas broadcasters pay $100 million-200 million (£80m-£160m) for the men’s FIFA World Cup, they offer only $1-10 million (£800k-£8m) 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.

“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.”

While the women’s game has grown a lot in recent years, there are still a lot of steps to be taken in its development – which will in turn increase the value of its rights. Given that the tournament will be played in Australia and New Zealand and therefore will not be at prime-time for European nations either, there are a lot of different factors to be taken into account when it comes to this situation.

Indeed, group matches may present a particular challenge to European viewers, given the need to fit three to four games into a single day. A typical timetable in the first round of matches will feature matchups beginning at 01:00, 02:00, or 03:30 (all BST) and ending at 06:00, 07:00, or 08:30 (all BST). Only a few matches will be played at more ‘regular’ European times, such as midday or 13:00 (BST), and due to the time difference, no ‘evening’ matches will be played.JAMB Result

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