A success even before the final. The 2023 Women’s World Cup, which ends on Sunday with the Spain-England clash, is “the biggest and best of all time,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino praised this Friday. According to him, the event, co-sponsored by Australia and New Zealand, “exceeded $570 million in revenue, allowing us to break even.”
“It shows that our strategy was not so bad, but of course we still have to do much better. But we are on the right track,” said the Italian-Swiss, re-elected in March for a new term until 2027. FIFA announced last record revenue for the 2019-2022 cycle, of about 7,600 million dollars, 18% more than in the previous period.
Spectators at the appointment
Another element of satisfaction for Fifa, the audiences are good, despite the conflict with the broadcasters that threatened to delay the event. “It’s clearly a strategic mistake by FIFA,” said Vincent Chaudel, an economist at the Sport Business Observatory.
“When you awarded the 2002 Men’s World Cup to South Korea and Japan, you sold the television rights to the 2006 World Cup to Germany at the same time. FIFA could have replicated this pattern with the 2019 FIFA World Cup in France and that in 2023. It didn’t and instead asked European broadcasters to pay more than before for timeslots they weren’t interested in.
Finally, France 2 and W9 acquired the television rights for France and established coverage systems. With, as a result, satisfactory hearings. Thus, 5.7 million viewers watched the quarterfinals between France and Australia on Saturday, August 12.
A few days later, the “Matildas”, falleras de la Azul, were followed by an average of 7 million people in Australia during their semi-final against England. It’s simply the best ratings rating, all shows combined, in Australian television history. “I am optimistic, I think FIFA will learn from this mistake,” says Vincent Chaudel.
Rise of new nations
President Infantino also defended the option of expanding the Women’s World Cup to 32 participating teams, which until then only had 24. “They said: ‘It won’t work, the level is too different, you’re going to have scores of 15-0, It will be bad for women’s football and its image,'” she said.
The ninth edition of the World Cup was marked by the emergence of new nations, such as Jamaica, Morocco and South Africa, who reached the round of 16 for the first time.
“Women’s football is in the process of earning its letters of nobility at the level of the national teams. The problem is rather the regular meeting of the French championship with very few spectators in the stadiums and in front of the screens,” says Vincent Chaudel. .
“Citizens have to watch more games”
In fact, women’s soccer continues to generate much less money than men’s. Despite progress since FIFA tripled allocations compared to the 2019 edition in France, it raised “prize money” to a record $152 million, ten times more than for the 2015 World Cup. in Canada.
“We see that Fifa wanted to correct the situation but there is still a significant gap with the bonuses that it grants to men, in the order of 1 to 3,” explains Vincent Chaudel, who recalls that the problem is much bigger than the only World Cup. . .
For the economist, it is necessary to achieve a snowball effect. “Nous citoyens, nous avons notre parte de responsabilité. Him. “The announcers are neither racist nor sexist, they are pragmatic. If there is an audience, they will broadcast more games and better.”
Infantino comments considered condescending
Apart from the presentation of the income generated by the 2023 World Cup, Gianni Infantino also called on the women, strengthened by this success, to “choose the right fights (…) to convince us men of what we have to do” . “.
“I tell all women – and you know I have four daughters, so I have quite a few at home – that you have the power to change,” she told the Women’s Soccer Convention to lukewarm applause.
“With the men, with Fifa, you will find open doors. Push them, they are open,” he added. Comments considered condescending and sexist, which drew a particularly wry reaction from Norway striker Ada Hegerberg, who wrote on X (ex-Twitter): “Working on a small presentation to convince the men. Who’s in?”
Source: BFM TV
