Governments react to threat of Women's World Cup TV blackout in Europe | OneFootball

The governments of the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy have released as joint statement on TV rights for the Women’s World Cup with broadcasting deals yet to be agreed with Fifa.

The Women’s World Cup is just 50 days away but, as of now, games will not be shown in Europe’s five biggest nations.

Fifa have so far refused bids from those nations for broadcasting rights and the governments have now reacted with a joint-statement as the tournament draws closer.

It reads:

“We, as Sports Ministers of European countries whose women’s national football teams have qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand, from the 20th of July to the 20th of August 2023, have acknowledged with concern that until now, no television rights have been attributed for the matches broadcasting in our countries.

“We are aware of the legitimate interests and budgetary constraints pressuring both assignees and independent broadcasters, who need a viable economic model for each of them. We also recognise the specific organisational constraints that are likely to affect the “market value” of the European broadcasters’ rights (period and hours of broadcasting).

“However, we are convinced that the media coverage of the Women’s World Cup will be decisive in improving the global visibility of women’s sports in our European countries. Media exposure to women’s sports has indeed a highly significant impact on the development of women’s and young girls’ sports practices.

“Because of the high potential of the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the sport and social issues at stake, we consider it our responsibility to fully mobilise all stakeholders, for them to quickly reach an agreement. These are decisions for FIFA and broadcasters to take independently, but we know that discussions are in progress and we are confident in FIFA and independent broadcasters’ capability to find a common path toward fair development of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.”