FIFA has upped the ante for its 2023 Women’s World Cup — but it still has a long way to go to achieve equal pay to the men’s game.
During his closing remarks at the governing body’s annual congress in Kigali, Rwanda, FIFA president Gianni Infantino — who was reelected after running unopposed — announced the prize money pool for the upcoming Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand would be $150 million.
Infantino emphasized that that figure is 10 times what it was in 2015 and three times that of 2019.
Still, it’s significantly less than the $440 million awarded to the men’s confederations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Perhaps anticipating backlash, Infantino called on broadcasters and sponsors of the women’s tournament “to do more.”
“FIFA is receiving between 10 and 100 times less from public broadcasters for the Women’s World Cup than the Men’s World Cup,” Infantino said. “Do you think that is normal?”
Saudi Sponsor Out
At the congress, Infantino confirmed a report from earlier in March that the tournament was planning to drop Saudi Arabia’s tourism board as a sponsor.
However, the FIFA president did not rule out having Visit Saudi as a partner for women’s tournaments going forward.
“FIFA is an organization made up of 211 countries,” said Infantino. “There is nothing wrong with taking sponsorships from Saudi Arabia, China, United States of America, Brazil, or India.”
