MADRID, 2 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has insisted on his call for television networks to pay a fair price for the rights to broadcast this summer’s Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand, after “disappointing offers “of the televisions of the ‘big five’ European countries, according to a statement from the organization.
“The offers from television networks, mainly in the ‘big five’ European countries, remain very disappointing and are simply not acceptable according to four criteria,” said Infantino, together with the director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO). , Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, during ‘Making Trade Score for Women!’, a series of round tables held at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Infantino explained that “one hundred percent of the rights paid would go directly to women’s football,” as part of FIFA’s “effort” to “promote measures that favor equal conditions and compensation.” “Second, public broadcasters in particular have a duty to promote and invest in women’s sport,” she recalled.
“The audience figures for the women’s World Cup are 50-60 percent of those for the men’s, and yet the offers from the ‘big five’ European countries for the women’s World Cup are 20 to 100 times lower.” , revealed an Infantino who stated that the operators offer between 900,000 euros and 9 million, while for the men’s edition the offers exceed 100 million. “This is a slap in the face for all footballers,” she said.
Thus, Infantino specified that FIFA still had to sell the audiovisual rights of the championship to some important markets because the offers were undervalued. “To be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the women’s World Cup,” she said. “If the offers continue to be unfair, we will be forced not to broadcast the World Cup in the ‘big five’ European countries,” she warned.
“I call on all players, fans, managers, presidents, prime ministers, politicians and journalists around the world to join us in supporting this call for fair pay for women’s football. Women love it! they deserve! It’s that simple!”, concluded Infantino.
Finally, the director general of the WTO seconded FIFA’s position and called for “higher” offers for the television rights to the tournament. “This is a real opportunity to support women’s football,” said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.