FIFA president has suggested there should be a TV blackout in Europe during the tournament if rights offers aren’t improved
With just 50 days to go until the FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off, the TV rights remain unsold in key territories across Europe. This has led sports ministers of five European countries to strongly encourage broadcasters and FIFA to reach an agreement very soon on these unsold Women’s World Cup TV rights.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has even gone as far as threatening a European TV blackout if rights offers aren’t improved - this would include in the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy.
In previous years, rights offers for the Women’s World Cup were bundled together with other events, including the men’s World Cup. The 2023 tournament is the first where FIFA has separated the bidding process.
The BBC held the UK broadcast rights for the 2019 Women’s World Cup and shared the rights for the recent men’s World Cup in Qatar with ITV. It’s expected that BBC and ITV will share the broadcasting rights for the Women’s World Cup this year, but nothing has been confirmed or officially announced to date.
European broadcasters have, Infantino said, offered just $1m-10m (£800,000-£8m) for the rights to broadcast the Women’s World Cup, compared to $100m-$200m for the men’s World Cup. Infantino deescribed the offers so far as “disappointing” and a “slap in the face” of the players and “all women worldwide”.
In a statement, the five countries acknowledged with “concern” that an agreement was not in place, but said they are confident FIFA and broadcasters will find a “common path”. UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer was one of those who signed the statement.
The World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, starts on 20 July.
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