Peace in our time as FIFA strikes broadcast deal with EBU for 2023 Women's World Cup

June 15 - After a long stalemate, FIFA has reached a deal with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to televise the Women's World Cup, averting a controversial blackout in Europe's 'big five' countries .

The deal, announced just five weeks before kick-off, follows a period of tension between FIFA and broadcasters in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK over rights competition in Australia and New Zealand in July and August. .

FIFA President Gianni Infantino had criticized broadcasters in Europe's 'big five' countries for offering significantly less than the amount paid to broadcast the men's World Cup. Infantino said major European broadcasters who roughly support the men's World Cup initially offered between $1 million and $10 million for the rights to this year's tournament. For the men's World Cup, they pay between 100 million and 200 million dollars each.

No value was given for the EBU deal, but it certainly won't come close to the value FIFA was hoping to get from Europe's biggest broadcast buyer.

One of the stumbling blocks in Europe was jet lag, which means games will often be played early in the morning on the European continent, but Infantino said that was no excuse.

Another problem was that FIFA came to market very late with the rights, after broadcasters had agreed on acquisition budgets, and demanded a price hike without any informed discussion or significant with buyers. The clear message from the broadcasters is that this would not be treated like FIFA's piggy bank and that they also had public responsibilities to fulfill.

The danger for FIFA was that in the biggest European markets, the Women's World Cup was not going to be broadcast to domestic audiences with all the extra programming and promotion that comes with it. This would have become a major problem for FIFA's global sponsors who justify their premium sponsorship purchases by the exposure they get that FIFA cannot give them on its own.

This issue has now been averted and everything in FIFA's broadcast garden is rosy again, for now at least.

"FIFA is delighted to extend the agreement with the European Broadcasting Union for the transmission of the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup to include the five major markets within their existing networks. , namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as Ukraine, ensuring maximum exposure at the tournament,” Infantino said of the deal.

EBU Chief Executive Noel Curran said: "The FIFA Women's World Cup is one of the most exciting and fastest growing events in sport and we are committed to working hand in hand with FIFA to ensure that women's football is enjoyed by as many people as possible across the continent,”

German FA boss Bernd Neuendorf said in a statement that he was "delighted" to "avoid a blackout" and to have a deal that would be "of enormous importance to the future development of women's football in Germany".

All 64 tournament matches will be shown in the UK on the BBC or ITV, with the exception of the final which will be shown on both channels.

Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, said: "We have shown every Women's World Cup on the BBC since 1999 and are delighted to extend our partnership with Fifa for the upcoming tournament."

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Peace in our time? The big picture now is what's happening with the rights to the 2030 Women's World Cup. The venue for that tournament is yet to be determined, but whether FIFA's main consideration is money (and it's an organization which still, and too often, places the money and its politics before the match), then this World Cup will have to be organized in the United States or in Europe.

With the just-announced deal between Concacaf and FIFA to jointly sell the rights to their major events through 2026, the smart money would be on the United States to be the next host.

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