Infantino: FIFA was right with WWC decision

FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, has disclosed that the FIFA Women’s World Cup has broken even as he praised Austra­lia and New Zealand for co-host­ing a ‘truly transformational’ event.

Infantino said the tournament was a huge success and proved doubters wrong, revealing that it generated more than $570 million in revenue.

“Some voices were raised, would it cost too much?” said Infantino.

“We don’t make enough reve­nues, we will have to subsidise.

“And our opinion was, well if we have to subsidise, we will subsi­dise, because we have to do that.

“But actually, this World Cup generated over $570 million in revenues, and so we broke even.

“We didn’t lose any money and we generated the second highest income of any sport, besides of course the men’s World Cup, at a global stage.”

Infantino said he believed that the success of the World Cup justified FIFA’s decision to increase the number of teams from 24 to 32 compared to France 2019.

“FIFA was right,” said Infantino.

“As it happens quite often in the last years, FIFA was right once more.

“I remember when we decided to do that, of course the usual critics, which are less and less, were saying it’s not going to work and the level is too different.

will be bad for women’s football and its image.”

Infantino was speaking during the FIFA Women’s Football Con­vention in Sydney Gadigal where he hailed “simply the best and greatest and biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup ever”.

“This FIFA Women’s World Cup has been truly transformational, not only in Australia and New Zealand but all over the world,” said Infantino.

“In the host countries, we had al­most two million spectators in the stadiums, full houses everywhere, and two billion watching all over the world and not just watching their own country but watching the World Cup, because it’s an event where I don’t just watch my team.

“It’s great sport, it’s entertaining and people love it.

“We have to thank and congrat­ulate Australia and New Zealand because without them this would not have been as magical.”

Infantino also reiterated his calls for broadcasters to pay a “fair price for women’s football” and urged all National Federations to organise women’s leagues.

“Female players cannot all go to play in a few clubs in Europe or the United States,” added Infantino.

“We need in the next four years to create the conditions for them to be able to play at professional level at home and this is the biggest challenge we have to take on board.” –Insidethegames