Are you ready to listen to some hilarious news? The cranky president of world soccer’s global governing has been talking some serious smack about European broadcasters lately. Apparently, they are way too stingy to meet FIFA’s demands for higher television rights fees for this summer’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. And if they don’t shape up, the tournament’s matches will be given a massive snub and won’t be broadcasted in many of Europe’s biggest markets. Ha, take that, stingy broadcasters!
The president of the world soccer’s global governing, Gianni Infantino, had a lot to say about the situation. “It is our moral and legal obligation not to undersell the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” he said. Okay, that sounds legit. “Therefore, should the offers continue not to be fair, we will be forced not to broadcast the FIFA Women’s World Cup into the ‘Big 5’ European countries,” he added. The ‘Big 5’ countries include England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. And guess what? They’re all sending teams of their own to the tournament. Oh, snap!
Infantino has some pretty strong thoughts about the offers he’s been receiving. Rolling his eyes, he criticized the World Cup rights offers and tagged them as “a slap in the face” not only to the World Cup’s players but to women generally. Wow, he’s really taking this seriously.
Looks like Infantino is bringing his A-game to the table. This fight started last year when he and FIFA threw away initial offers for rights to the women’s championship from several countries as far too low. At the time, he framed the battle as one over fairness, and he has since positioned himself as a champion of women’s soccer by increasing prize money for this year’s tournament and pledging to equalize it with the men’s World Cup by 2027. You go, girl – or should we say, you go, Gianni!

Serious News: nytimes