Five European ministers called on Wednesday in a joint statement to “quickly find an arrangement” so that the Women’s World Cup (July 20-August 20) finds a broadcaster.
“Due to the strong potential of this competition and the sporting and societal challenges associated with it, we consider it our duty to fully mobilize all the stakeholders so that they can quickly find an arrangement”, plead the French, German, Italian, Spanish and British Sports Ministers in this text published in Paris.
These ministers say they are “aware of the legitimate interests and budgetary constraints that weigh on both rights holders and independent broadcasters, who both need viable economic models” and say they “also recognize the constraints of organization which are likely to affect the market value of the rights for European broadcasters (period and hours of retransmission)’.
Asked Wednesday about this subject on France 2, the French Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, judged that “Fifa will probably have to be less greedy and remember that there are obstacles linked to temporality”. The Women’s World Cup takes place this summer in Australia and New Zealand, which have a very significant time difference with Europe.
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“The media exposure of women’s sport has indeed a very significant impact on the development of sports practice among women and girls”, also write Nancy Faeser (Germany), Miquel Iceta I Llorens (Spain), Andrea Abodi (Italy ), Lucie Frazer (United Kingdom) and Amélie Oudéa-Castéra.
In an interview recently granted to AFP, the Secretary General of Fifa, Fatma Samoura, had asked television channels, some of which are reluctant in Europe to broadcast the Women’s World Cup, to “promote” this competition “at its fair price” .
“If the offers continue to be unfair (towards women and women’s football), we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the five major European countries”, had threatened the president of the instance, Gianni Infantino, in early May on Instagram.
