The President of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has warned that the 2023 Women's World Cup may not be broadcast in Europe's top five footballing nations if respective broadcasters don't improve on what he has described as "disappointing" offers for the tournament's broadcast rights.
The Swiss former Secretary General of UEFA has called the bids coming out of the countries in question a "slap in the face" to "all women worldwide", not only the players themselves.
Infantino has claimed that some broadcasters in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have offered as little as $1m for the rights to the crown jewel of women's international football.
Speaking at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Geneva, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, 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.”
Infantino said that broadcasters in those markets had offered between $1m and $10m for these broadcast rights so far, compared to the $100-200m they pledged for the rights to the men's version of the tournament in 2022.
Is it any surprise the bids are far lower than for Qatar 2022?
Despite Infantino's posturing, even the greatest optimist could see this for what it is - Infantino and FIFA wanting more money. It has very little to do with the true value of the women's game, and more to do with the Swiss attempting to utilise faux-morality in an ploy to put more money in the coffers of FIFA, notoriously one of the world's most corrupt organisations.
The reality is that the popularity of the women's game, while it is growing, is still dwarfed by that of the men's. What's more, even if there were a big enough potential audience to warrant broadcasters submitting higher bids, the fact that the tournament is being held in Australia and New Zealand means many games will be played at completely unsociable hours for fans in the aforementioned European countries.
There has been some suggestion that if broadcasters don't pay up, FIFA may decide to broadcast the tournament, which kicks off with hosts New Zealand taking on Norway in Auckland on 20th July, via their dedicated live streaming service FIFA+.
The platform was successfully used to broadcast the Qatar 2022 World Cup in some areas, and FIFA believe it could handle such an undertaking. However, with the service not yet widely available on all devices, it is unclear whether the world governing body will take such a risk.
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