Fifa responsible for undervaluing Women’s World Cup, says former council member Moya Dodd
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Fifa president Gianni Infantino has threatened a television blackout of the Women’s World Cup unless broadcasters improve their offers for rights.
PHOTO: AFP
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SYDNEY – Former Fifa council member Moya Dodd has criticised Gianni Infantino’s threat of a Women’s World Cup broadcast blackout in parts of Europe in 2023 and said the governing body is responsible for the tournament being historically undervalued.
Fifa is selling TV rights to the women’s tournament separately from the men’s for the first time and president Infantino said Europe’s big five nations face a blackout unless broadcasters improve on their “unacceptable” offers.
Broadcasters from Britain, Spain, France, Germany and Italy had offered only between US$1 million (S$1.33 million) and US$10 million for the rights, compared to US$100 million-US$200 million for the men’s World Cup, he added.
Dodd, an ex-Australia international, said the broadcast industry had undervalued the women’s tournament as Fifa had previously sold the rights together with the men’s.
“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,” she 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 didn’t bring the revenues.
“It’s actually quite outrageous. For Fifa to now say that all women’s revenues will go straight into women’s football overlooks the fact that the value of the women’s rights has until now been used to inflate the value of men’s football.”
Dodd said that instead of threatening broadcasters, Fifa should review all of its bundled deals and attribute a fair proportion to the women’s game.
“If in fact the Women’s World Cup gets 50-60 per cent of the viewers of the men’s, as Fifa says, that should amount to a sum in the billions,” she added.
The Women’s World Cup will be held from July 20 to Aug 20 in Australia and New Zealand. One of the hot favourites are England, the European champions.
But the Lionesses’ spate of injuries ahead of the tournament has been devastating, coach Sarina Wiegman said on Tuesday, hours after forward Fran Kirby confirmed she will undergo knee surgery and miss the World Cup.
Kirby is the third England regular who will be sidelined for the World Cup after captain Leah Williamson, who suffered a cruciate ligament rupture in April, and Euro 2022 Golden Boot winner Beth Mead, ruled out since November with the same injury.
“It is devastating for the players and they are understandably gutted – it is really sad,” Wiegman said. “Leah has done a tremendous job as our captain and she was in good form when it happened. It is horrible for her and sad for the whole team that she will be unavailable. And it is the same with Fran.” REUTERS
