The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, assured after his re-election this Thursday that his objective is to have equitable remuneration for the players in the 2026 and 2027 World Cups and denounced the great difference in economic offer made by broadcasting operators for both competitions.
“We must pay great attention to women. The Women’s World Cup in Australia and Zealand must be a celebration of women’s football, progress and a festival for all, which must not be tainted with another subject. Today we embark on a historic journey for the female world in favor of equality”, she stated.
As the father “of four precious daughters”, Infantino dedicated his last speech to women’s football before the Congress held in Kigali, where he was acclaimed for a second term until 2027, and highlighted the strategy that FIFA has already implemented and that “can mean that in 2026 and 2027 we have equal remuneration for men and women and that the associations receive more than they are receiving for participating in the World Cup”.
“We have already taken action, but unfortunately this does not happen in all parts of the industry. Sponsors, broadcasters must continue to progress in this regard, it is very easy to criticize and not do. FIFA is receiving offers from 10 to 100 times lower for the women’s World Cup in relation to the men’s, do you think this is normal? If they offer us 20 or 25% less agreement, but not 100, how are we going to manage to do it?”, he asked in voice aloud.
Infantino insisted on “everyone rowing in the same direction in the fight for equality.” “To make it real FIFA has already started and we urge the rest to do the same. Women deserve much better, we are here to fight for them with them,” he said.
Among the actions already carried out by FIFA, Infantino pointed out equal conditions and services for everyone as the first step, which will be a reality at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this year and stressed that the second ” brings a significant increase in total prize money”, which “will triple or even more compared to 2019 and will be 10 times greater than 2015” when he was not president.
“For the first time in history we are going to dedicate a specific portion of this allocation to development mainly, but of course for the soccer players,” he explained before assuring that “the third step, supported by FIFA’s new commercial strategy, for the implementation of the specific marketing concept for women’s football and the World Cup is the most complicated and will take the longest”.
