FIFA makes European TV deal for Women’s World Cup, ends standoff with broadcasters

GENEVA — FIFA ended a standoff with broadcasters in 5 main European tv markets by agreeing to a Women’s World Cup rights deal Wednesday simply 5 weeks earlier than the primary match.

The deal struck collectively with the European Broadcasting Union ended 9 months of jibes aimed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino at free-to-air networks in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Infantino repeatedly aired his anger with the broadcasters – which all have nationwide groups enjoying within the 64-game event – for providing as little as 1% of the charges they paid for the lads’s World Cup.

The July 20-Aug. 20 World Cup is being hosted by Australia and New Zealand with many group-stage video games scheduled by way of the night time and early hours of the European morning.

No value was introduced for including the 5 nations plus Ukraine to the 28-nation rights deal FIFA already struck with the Geneva-based EBU final yr.

Instead, FIFA did hail European broadcasters committing to display screen extra girls’s soccer from subsequent season.

“As part of this agreement,” Infantino stated in an announcement, “the EBU has committed to working towards broadcasting at least one hour of weekly content dedicated to women’s football on its own digital platform and broadcaster network.”

This can be a “substantial additional commitment … thus helping to further grow the sport,” FIFA stated.

“We see women’s football as being central to our content strategy and one of the cornerstones of the new digital platform we hope to launch next year,” EBU director normal Noel Curran stated.

Tensions between FIFA and broadcasters like Britain’s BBC, Germany’s ZDF and Italy’s Rai rose final month when Infantino instructed the event might be blacked out in these nations.

That would have been massively damaging to the fast-flourishing girls’s sport. FIFA additionally had the choice of exhibiting video games by itself streaming platform.