Opinion: With the 2023 Women’s World Cup just around the corner, several European countries still haven’t secured broadcasting rights with FIFA as a result of new initiatives to better fund women’s soccer.
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Summer is rapidly approaching, and there is a lot to look forward to: graduation, road trips, birthdays, concerts, the list goes on. Most importantly, this summer is the Women’s World Cup.
Starting July 20, 32 teams will face off on the international stage in the ninth Women’s World Cup. Hosted between Australia and New Zealand, the matches will include the 4-time-champions U.S. Women’s National Team facing off against the Netherlands and a repeat of the 2022 Euro between Italy and Sweden.
Though the time zone difference will result in some bizarre broadcasting times — Germany v Morocco beginning at 1:30 a.m. PST on July 24 — the U.S. has secured its broadcasting deal with FIFA.
However, five European countries have not and may face a broadcast blackout as a result.
Known as the “Big 5” — England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany, all of which are sending teams to the tournament — these countries are currently being threatened by FIFA to improve their broadcasting bids to level with those made for the Men’s World Cup just months ago.
At a World Trade Organization meeting in Geneva, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said broadcasters only offered $1 to $10 million for the women’s cup compared to the $100 to $200 million for the men’s.
“This is a slap in the face of all the great FIFA Women’s World Cup players and indeed of all women worldwide,” Gianni said.
This threat comes after Infantino’s recent pledge to promote and support women’s soccer in addition to several other development objectives which were laid out at the annual FIFA Congress in Rwanda.
As part of this pledge, FIFA has raised its funds to $152 million for the upcoming tournament — $110 million in prize money and the rest used for team preparation — and is committed to matching the men’s tournament by 2027. This is a significant increase compared to the $30 million for the 2019 Women’s World Cup, but still heavily lacking when the men’s tournament received $440 million in funds.
Ultimately, while I support this new initiative, especially as the momentum of women’s soccer programs fighting for equal pay continues, FIFA is still a large corporation and should be viewed with a degree of skepticism. This is the same FIFA, after all, that overlooked the deaths of dozens of migrant workers in the construction of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
So, while Infantino stated, “It is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” the line at which the company decides to draw its moral and legal obligations should still be called into question.
That all being said, I still plan on watching this summer’s greatest sporting event, despite having to wake up in the middle of the night to do so. At the same time, it remains uncertain whether or not residents of several European countries will be able to say the same.
