Will FIFA withhold Women's World Cup TV rights in Europe?

What is the latest?

With less than three months to go until the start of the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, FIFA still hasn't reached deals to broadcast the tournament in what Gianni Infantino described as the "Big Five" European countries. The FIFA boss this week turned up the heat in a standoff that began last October, telling a World Trade Organization meeting in Geneva that "public broadcasters in particular have a duty to promote and invest in women's sport."

He then went on to say that broadcasters from the "Big Five" (understood to be Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain) had offered between $1 million (€910,000) and $10 million to televise the Women's World Cup. This compares to the $100-200 million they'd paid for the latest edition of the men's tournament in Qatar.

"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 Five' European countries," Infantino concluded. 

What's the reaction been from broadcasters?

Public broadcasters such as Britain's BBC or Germany's ARD/ZDF have generally declined comment, citing ongoing negotiations.

However, ARD sports coordinator Axel Balkausky recently expressed surprise at FIFA's approach. Without mentioning a figure, he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper that ARD and ZDF had submitted a fair offer for the rights, in view of the market. He added that the public broadcasters would continue to be guided by "market conditions and not by the demands of the associations."

It's not only Germany's public broadcasters who have failed to meet FIFA's demands so far. Charly Classen, head of sports at Sky, told newsmagazine Stern that with interest in women's football growing rapidly, the sport's world governing body was looking to cash in. 

"FIFA wants to take advantage of this and is charging prices that no one on the market is willing to pay at the moment," he said. "That's why both sides are continuing to play poker on this issue."

Is there in fact a strong demand for women's football on television?

Yes. According to FIFA figures, more than a billion viewers tuned in to the last Women's World Cup, hosted by France in 2019.

Last year's European Championship in England also enjoyed high ratings, in Germany in particular. According to AGF Videoforschung GmbH, which tracks TV and streaming ratings in Germany, almost 18 million viewers watched the live broadcast of the final, which Germany lost 2-1 to hosts England. This made it the country's most-watched television broadcast of 2022, with a few hundred thousand more viewers than the German men's final group-stage match of the World Cup in Qatar.  

Whether a competition taking place in Australia and New Zealand's time zones, meaning early morning matches for potential viewers in Europe, will fare as well, is perhaps an open question.

"Maybe, because it is in Australia and New Zealand, it's not played on prime time in Europe, but still, it is played at 9:00 a.m. or 10:00 a.m., so it is quite a reasonable time," Infantino said of the scheduling.

Will any Europeans be able to watch?

Yes. People in 28 other European countries will be able to watch most or all of the 64-game tournament on free-to-air channels under a deal announced by the European Broadcasting Union last October. Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Switzerland and Turkey are among the countries covered by the rights package.  The value of the deal was not disclosed.

What will happen if no deal is reached?

This is not clear. However, one option could be for football's governing body to stream games to the "Big Five" European markets exclusively on its online platform, FIFA+. 

On the other hand, even though time is running short, some, like the German FA (DFB) are clinging to the hope that a deal will still be reached in time for the opening kickoff on July 20. Holger Blask, the DFB's head of marketing, said that they were working on the assumption that "FIFA and the TV broadcasters in question would evaluate the economic potential of the Women's World Cup appropriately and in line with the market, and find good solutions."

Edited by: Mark Hallam