England fans could miss Women's World Cup this summer after FIFA threat
England fans might miss this summer's Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand - unless a deal for European TV rights can be struck soon.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has labelled the current offers as "disappointing" and believes the broadcasters are attempting to low-ball the governing body. This tournament marks the first time FIFA is selling the rights separately from the men's equivalent competition.
Offers from the ‘big five’ European countries - Spain, Italy, Germany, the UK and France – were deemed not acceptable to football’s world governing body. Infantino has said broadcasters are not offering upwards of $10million, with the men's tournament attracting anywhere between $100-200million.
"To be very clear, it is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the FIFA Women’s World Cup," Infantino said at a World Trade Organisation meeting in Geneva. "Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women's World Cup into the big five European countries.
"It’s not played on prime-time in Europe, but still it is played at 9am or 10am, so it is quite a reasonable time."
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A spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "I think the PM, like everyone in the UK, would want to see such an important event televised, not least following the huge success of our Lionesses."
Gianni Infantino wants the broadcasters to offer more for the Women's World Cup (Tom Dulat/FIFA via Getty Images)The last women's World Cup in France back in 2019 attracted around 1.12billion viewers around the planet. However the time difference between Europe and host nations Australia and New Zealand, means the games won't be shown in primetime slots across the big European nations this summer.
It was reported back in March that both ITV and BBC were close to finalising a deal to share broadcasting rights for the tournament. However, both may have to put their plans for the finals on hold until the dispute is settled.
Most games will be kicking off in the early hours of the morning in the UK however, England’s three group games are all scheduled for late morning. The tournament begins on July 20 with games in both Auckland and Sydney.
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