Live broadcast on August 18-FIFA president Fantino said that women fighting for their own rights can convince us men that we must do something to promote the progress of women’s football.
The one-month Women’s World Cup will end on Sunday, when England will face Spain at Sydney Australian stadium. In a speech in Sydney, Infantino said that women must open the door to equality: “With men and FIFA, you will find an open door. Just push the door open.”
There are still two games to be played in the women’s football World Cup, including the third play-off between Sweden and Australia. The number of spectators watching the women’s football World Cup in the stadium reached a record 1.85 million.
Infantino said: “This World Cup has generated more than $0.57 billion in revenue, so we have achieved a balance of payments. We didn’t lose money, and in the world, our income ranked second among all sports, of course, second only to the men’s World Cup.”
There is still a huge difference between the prize money of Men’s Football Championship and Women’s Football Championship. The prize money of this World Cup reached a record 0.11 billion dollars, slightly lower than the 0.44 billion dollars of the men’s football final held in Qatar last year, at that time, 3.4 million fans watched the game.
Infantino: “Equal pay for equal work in the World Cup? We are already moving in this direction. But this cannot solve any problem. This may be a symbol, but it can’t solve any problems, because it is every four years, and it is a minority of thousands of players. We need to maintain this momentum. I want to say to all women, you know I have four daughters, so there are also several women in my family, and you have the ability to change. Fight for your own rights. You have the ability to persuade us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. Do it. FIFA is in the right direction.”
The success of the Women’s World Cup quelled those voices that questioned the expansion of the Women’s World Cup to 32 countries. Some people worry that increasing the number of participating teams from 24 will lead to more one-sided matches in Australia and New Zealand. However, Nigeria, South Africa, Jamaica and Morocco, which ranked no more than 40th in the world, were ranked out of the group stage.
“FIFA is right. We have invested 1 billion dollars in global development events, especially women’s competitions. Although the epidemic affected all of us, we still did it. Women’s football has maintained its vitality even in the most difficult period. We decided to increase the number of teams participating in the World Cup to 32. I remember when we decided to do this, there were some criticisms. They said it wouldn’t work and the level difference was too big. They said the score would be 15 to 0, which was very bad for the women’s football team. As it has often happened in the past few years, but FIFA is right again. We have eight teams making their debut. Many countries in the world suddenly feel that they have the opportunity to participate.”
(eagle)