There are many criticisms of the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, as a result of the controversy over poor offers received by TV operators to broadcast the Women’s World Cup to be held this summer in Australia and New Zealand. The president was showered with ‘sticks’ from various quarters, assuring that he only cares about money for his organization, to which he replied infantino as follows, emphasizing that the revenue will be reinvested in its entirety into women’s football.
“Offers from TV networks, mainly in the ‘big five’ European countries, remain very disappointing and unacceptable according to the four criteria,” he said. “First of all, 100% of the rights paid will go directly to women’s football, in our efforts to promote measures in favor of equality of conditions and pay. Second, public broadcasters in particular have a duty to promote and invest in women’s sport. Third, the audience figures for FIFA Women’s World Cup are 50-60% of those for the men’s FIFA World Cup (which, is the highest of any event) but offers from broadcasters in the ‘big five’ European countries for the FIFA Women’s World Cup are 20 up to 100 times less than for the men’s FIFA World Cup. Finally, and to be more specific, while broadcasters pay between USD 100 and 200 million for the men’s World Cup, they only offer between USD 1 and 10 million for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. It’s a slap in the face for all the great players at the FIFA Women’s World Cup and indeed all the women in the world.”
One of the most tenacious of his criticisms is Moya Doddformer FIFA Council member and former Australian international, who spoke of FIFA’s “hypocrisy” regarding its stance on television rights:
“It’s quite absurd to scold the broadcasters for being underpaid, because if you look at history, FIFA itself has never valued women’s rights.” It’s really outrageous. For FIFA to now say that all revenue from women will go directly to women’s football ignores the fact that the value of women’s rights has so far been used to inflate the value of men’s football. “
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
