KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS: Gianni Infantino is frustrated with sponsors and, in particular, broadcasters who are not stepping up to the financial plate ahead of the Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.

This will be the first Women’s World Cup to exist independently in financial terms. Previously commercial rights had always been bundled within the overall FIFA system and the tournaments subsidised, as with all the other loss-making junior events, by the men’s World Cup.

However the success of the Women’s World Cup in France 2019 and the rapid expansion of the women’s game in general prompted a rights separation. Not that broadcasters and sponsors are responding as FIFA believes they should.

Infantino pulled no punches in his closing remarks at FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, after having been re-elected unopposed for a further four years in office.

He noted “a historic journey for women’s football” which was bringing equal organisational conditions for both men and women’s World Cup plus an increase in prize money by three times more than in 2019.

This was not being matched, however, by FIFA’s commercial partners.

Infantino said: “Broadcasters and sponsors have to do more in this respect. FIFA has received 10pc or 100pc inferior offers for the Women’s World Cup than for the men’s World Cup. We have $100m offers for the men’s World Cup but $1m or less to broadcast the Women’s World Cup.

“At the same time these public broadcasters criticise FIFA for not guaranteeing equal pay for men and women. Maybe the viewing figures are 20 times less than for the men. In that case the offers should be maybe just 20 times less. My message is that women deserve much more and we need to fight together.”

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