FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s threat of a Women’s World Cup broadcast blackout in Europe has been criticised by a former FIFA Council member who says the governing body is also responsible for the tournament being historically undervalued.
Television rights for this summer’s tournament are being sold separately from the men’s World Cup for the first time, but Infantino has warned that Europe’s ‘Big 5’ — Britain, France, Spain, Germany and France — must improve on their “unacceptable” offers.
Infantino said that broadcasters from those territories had offered only £800,000 — £8million ($1m-$10m) for the Women’s World Cup compared with the £80m-£160m ($100m-$200m) for the men’s.
But Moya Dodd, a former Australia international and ex-FIFA Council member, called Infantino’s comments “outrageous” and said FIFA was part of the problem.
“Now that FIFA has decided to sell the rights separately, it’s no surprise that the buyers don’t want to pay the same big numbers twice,” Dodd told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“Effectively, the industry was trained to pay big money for the men’s World Cup and treat the women’s equivalent as worthless. At the same time, the women were told they didn’t deserve prize money or equal pay because they…
