FIFA breaks even despite reaching record revenue of Women's World Cup 2023
Before the tournament, FIFA considered a subsidy plan if the women's World Cup revenue was not enough, but the revenue announced on August 18 showed that FIFA broke even.
"We lost nothing," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. "This is probably the second highest revenue of a tournament in the history of world sports, of course not counting the Men's World Cup."
The breakeven mainly comes from FIFA's reward of 110 million USD, three times higher than in 2019. Each player who stops in the group stage receives 30,000 USD, and the champion is 270,000 USD. The FIFA president emphasized that the increase in prize money and expansion from 24 to 32 teams makes the ninth edition "the best, the greatest and the biggest".
Before questions about equality in prize money, Infantino said that battles for women's equality should be chosen appropriately, instead of the World Cup. FIFA president confirmed that we are moving in the direction of equal pay, but need more time. "Women have the power to change, to convince men what to do for them," Infantino said.
Revenue from the Women's World Cup is an odd number of the $7.5 billion that FIFA earns from the Men's World Cup. World Cup prize money in Qatar is $ 440 million, equivalent to 6% of total revenue, while women's is 19.2%.
Infantino also countered criticism of the selection of Australia and New Zealand as hosts, or increased from 24 to 32 teams. Before the tournament, there was concern that the level difference could ruin the tournament's image such as breaking the record for the heaviest score recorded in the US 13-0 Thailand match in 2019. However, the strongest score of the period. This year's tournament is only 7-0, in the Dutch victory over Vietnam in the group stage. In addition, the 2023 Women's World Cup could record a record attendance of nearly 2 million people, nearly 35% higher than the previous record in 2015.
"I'm sorry, but FIFA was right," Infantino said. "Criticisms have been frequent over the past few years, but in the end FIFA is right."
