FIFA reaches agreement and avoids the Blackout of the Women’s World Cup in European countries – 06/14/2023 – Sports

Just over a month before the start of the Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand, FIFA and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) reached an agreement to broadcast the tournament openly in 34 European countries.

This agreement is an extension of the one reached by both parties recently and which affected 28 countries, which are now joined by France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Ukraine, which guarantees “the widest possible publicity for the tournament”, said FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

With this agreement, “the EBU undertakes to broadcast at least one hour of women’s football per week both on its digital platform and on its social media network,” Infantino said in the statement.

“This will provide a golden opportunity to promote discipline and gain visibility, which is a top priority for us, in line with FIFA’s commitment to the long-term development of women’s football,” he added.

Spanish public television (RTVE), which adhered to this agreement, “will broadcast the 25 main games of the tournament, one per day of competition, including all the games of the Spanish national team, the opening game, the semifinals and the final”.

“In addition, it will carry out wide coverage on television, radio and digital media”, added RTVE, which “will have exclusive rights in the territory of Spain for free and open coverage of television and radio”.

There will be a team of special envoys that will cover the entire competition on the different platforms of RTVE, with special monitoring in the information spaces, added Spanish public television in a statement upon learning of the agreement between FIFA and the EBU.

For months, Infantino and FIFA fought with major European broadcasters, who submitted “unacceptable” financial proposals for the women’s World Cup, “from 20 to 100 times lower than those received for the men’s Cup”.

The Italian-Swiss leader denounced that, while broadcasters offered “between 100 and 200 million dollars” to broadcast the men’s World Cup, the offers for the women’s were from “one to 10 million dollars”, despite their audiences representing “about 50 or 60%” of the men’s tournament.

Infantino even threatened to “not broadcast” the Women’s World Cup in major European countries if his broadcasters’ offers continued to fail to satisfy FIFA.

European televisions justified their position with the fact that the games are not seen in “prime time” due to the time difference with Oceania, although they now estimate that the main games will be broadcast at a “reasonable” time, in the morning European time.