Despite progress in women’s sports, significant challenges remain, notably regarding equal pay, visibility, and training conditions.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has sparked backlash after saying women should “pick the right battles” to “convince us, men, what we have to do” over equality issues in football.
Speaking at a FIFA Women’s Football Convention before Sunday’s World Cup final, the football boss expressed that equal pay in the game wouldn’t solve anything and described the topic as a “slogan that comes up every now and then.”
“I say to all the women – and you know I have four daughters, so I have a few at home – I say to all the women that you have the power to change,” said Infantino.
“Pick the right battles, pick the right fights. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us, men, what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it, just do it. With me, with FIFA, you will find open doors. Just push the doors, they are open,” the FIFA president added.
England is now set to play Spain in the final for their share of an increased prize pot of $110m, more than three times what was offered in the 2019 edition, yet significantly less than what was awarded to the men’s competition.
A whopping $440 million was set aside in Qatar for distribution among the 32 competing teams at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup. The Argentinian champions made $42 million in prize money, while France, the losing team, received $30 million.
“Not just equal pay in the World Cup, which is a slogan that comes up every now and then. Equal pay in the World Cup, we are going in that direction already. But that would not solve anything,” Infantino said, adding to his bizarre speech.
The 53-year-old FIFA head went on to add, “it might be a symbol, but it would not solve anything, because it’s one month every four years and it’s a few players out of the thousands and thousands of players. We need to keep the momentum. We need to push it. We need to go for equality, but we have to do it for real.”
Receiving waves of backlash, former Ballon d’Or Norwegian winner Ada Hegerberg mocked Infantino’s speech posting an ironic reaction.
Taking to X, known previously as Twitter, the striker wrote, “Working on a little presentation to convince men. Who’s in?”
Australian journalist Samantha Lewis also commented on her opinion of the keynote speech: “Infantino says this like women haven’t been banging on the door of football for over a century. it’s not women who lack the initiative or the knowledge or the ideas, it’s because men still own the house and haven’t let us in!”
Hegerberg has been a routine campaigner for women athletes. Earlier this month, she said football federations need to show more respect to their women’s teams after several countries like Morocco, Jamaica, and South Africa reached the knockout stage for the first time.
“More and more teams are here to show their best and it’s tighter. You can see it from both sides: Are the best teams evolving in the right direction? But you see that smaller nations are coming up and are doing great work, putting their spirit into it and it’s great to see,” Hegerberg said.
The 28-year-old added,” I really hope it gives more nations more opportunities and more and more federations follow, because I know there are many nations that need more following and more respect from their federations.”
Prior to 2022, the most revenue collected by FIFA was in 2018, with a total amount of $4.64 billion
Last year, the football organising body earned an unprecedented $7.5bn in revenue through four years of commercial deals tied to the Qatar’s World Cup. The earnings are $1bn more than the 2018 Russian edition.
Meanwhile, this year’s Women’s World Cup has generated over $570 million in revenue, which Infantino said allowed FIFA to “break even.”
“Some voices were raised, would it cost too much? 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,” he in his speech at the FIFA Women’s Football Convention.
“But actually, this World Cup generated over 570 million US dollars 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.”
Despite the staggering revenue generated by the Women’s World Cup, it has yet to influence prize money.
The question of what it will take to get equal prize money in the Women’s World Cup was asked to Infantino.
He said “partners, sponsors, and broadcasters have to pay a fair price based on the impact that it has. We have to do more to promote it.”
With FIFA’s $4 billion in reserves and expected $11 billion in revenue in the 2026 World Cup cycle, the flagship event in women’s sports has yet to receive the recognition it demands.
