FIFA warns Europe of Women's World Cup broadcast blackout

Publicly criticizing broadcasters for offering to pay too little to screen the Women's World Cup has not worked out yet for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is now threatening a blackout in major European markets.

A public standoff started by In‐ fantino last October was intensi‐ fied late Monday when he warned five key countries – England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain – where deals are still not signed less than three months before the tournament starts in Australia and New Zealand.

"To be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to under‐ sell the FIFA Women's World Cup," Infantino said in a statement about the July 20‐Aug. 20 tourna‐ ment.

"Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair (towards women and women's football), we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women's World Cup into the 'Big 5' European countries."

England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have all qualified for the first Women's World Cup to have 32 teams, and FIFA has a standby broadcasting option with its own online streaming platform FIFA+.

Europe is FIFA's most lucrative broadcast market with $1.06 bil‐ lion in TV revenue for the 2019‐22 commercial cycle, mostly tied to the men's World Cup in Qatar.

FIFA reported total financial re‐ serves close to $4 billion at the end of 2022 with $3.43 billion in broadcast revenue from total in‐ come of $7.57 billion in the past four years.

Infantino first aired the Women's World Cup broadcasting issue seven months ago, when in Auck‐ land for the official draw for the tournament. He said then that of‐ fers as low as 1% of the equivalent TV rights price paid for the men's World Cup were "not acceptable."

In March, for world soccer's an‐ nual meeting in Rwanda, Infan‐ tino reported no progress with TV broadcasters while also announc‐ ing a more than three‐fold in‐ crease in team prize money to $110 million for the tournament.

Infantino has been clearly ran‐ kled that player‐led criticism of FIFA for not offering equal prize money — the 32 men's teams shared $440 million prize money at the 2022 World Cup — is ampli‐ fied by media he believes is under‐ valuing women's soccer.

The Women's World Cup has standalone broadcast and sponsor deals rather than being bundled with the men's tournament — a policy started since Infantino was elected in 2016, when he pledged "continued and intensified effort" to develop the women's game.

The FIFA leader suggested on Monday "public broadcasters in particular have a duty to promote and invest in women's sport."

"Women deserve it! As simple as that!" he said.

However, Infantino's repeated criticism of European public serv‐ ice broadcasters has included Britain's BBC which regularly broadcasts domestic women's games live. The BBC's sports de‐ partment has been led by a woman, Barbara Slater, for 14 years.

Asked for a response on Tuesday to Infantino's threat, the BBC said it did not comment on sports ne‐ gotiations.

This Women's World Cup is far from an ideal time zone for Euro‐ pean broadcasters. Daytime games in Australia and New Zealand play in the early hours of the morning in Europe, though Infantino said that was not an excuse.