WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
FIFA $100 million short of goal for 2023 Women’s World Cup broadcast rights fees
FIFA has fallen roughly $100 million (£76 million/€89 million) short of its goal for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand broadcast rights fees.
The game’s international ruling body aimed to sign deals valuing the quadrennial event’s global broadcasting rights at $300 million (£229 million/€267 million), but it will instead settle for closer to $200 million (£152million/€178million), the Wall Street Journal reports.
FIFA is on track to bring in about $50 million (£38 million/€44 million) in new broadcast rights sales since last year’s men’s World Cup, which is about a third of the $150 million (£115 million/€133 million) new fees it hoped to secure.
This year’s Women’s World Cup is the first in which FIFA separately sold broadcast rights to the tournament, a break from the past in which the rights were essentially given for free to broadcasters who bought rights to the men’s tournament.
In May, FIFA President Gianni Infantino branded rights offers from the five leading European nations to broadcast the event as “a slap in the face for women worldwide” and warned that they could face a television blackout unless offers were improved.
“The viewing figures of the FIFA Women’s World Cup are 50-60 per cent of the men’s FIFA World Cup, yet the broadcasters’ offers in the ‘Big 5’ European countries for the FIFA Women’s World Cup are 20 to 100 times lower than for the men’s FIFA World Cup,” he added.
But last month a deal was done which added the Big Five – and Ukraine – to the European Broadcasting Union arrangement to broadcast the World Cup free-to-air in a number of other European countries.
But the level of the European arrangement was reflected by the joint deal with BBC and ITV for the rights, which is reportedly worth around £9 million (£11.5 million/€10.5 million) which is just eight per cent of the cost of televising the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
In the United States, however, Fox has recorded strong ad sales for its upcoming Women’s World Cup coverage, selling out 90 per cent of its inventory by June and 50 per cent more than the 2019 tournament.
Fox Sports chief executive Eric Shanks told Front Office Sports that the suboptimal time difference is why FIFA placed the United States team in New Zealand instead of Australia.
“I think that’s a big reason why FIFA realised that it’s probably better for the US national team to be based in New Zealand,” Shanks said.
“One of the reasons probably is that time zone’s much more friendly to the U.S.
“So we’ll have the early games while they’re in New Zealand starting at like 9pm Eastern.
“And then it kinda gets a little bit all over the place; they’re either gonna be primetime games or fairly earlier in the morning.”
-insidethegames
Despite wintry conditions in Blida, on the outskirts of the Algerian capital, Algiers, Nigeria’s U17 girls dug their feet into the ground on Friday night.
They achieved a scoreless draw that qualified them for this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals.
Holding on to a 4-0 first-leg advantage, the 2002 bronze medallists adopted a calm and collected pattern that easily soaked up the expected pressure from the hosts and then relied on fast breaks to try and pull the trigger on their opponents.
Although they created better chances on the night, the Flamingos failed to make dominance in possession pay, but swiftly collected the ticket to Morocco on a 4-0 aggregate win.
The difference over two legs of the final round was a remarkable display in the opening leg by the Flamingos, during which a brace by Queen Joseph and one each by Zainab Raji and substitute Aisha Animashaun ensured a 4-0 win.
The Flamingos will now be one of Africa’s five representatives (including hosts Morocco) at this year’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup finals taking place from 17th October – 5th November. The final competition will entertain 24 teams for the very first time.
Since the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup competition was launched in New Zealand in 2008, Nigeria have failed to make the finals only once – the 2018 tournament hosted by Uruguay.
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WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Despite heavy first leg loss, Algeria hopeful of a turnaround in Nigeria’s Flamingos clash
The Algeria U17 women’s national team still hope for a possible turnaround in this Friday night clash with Nigeria’s Flamingos.
Algeria lost 4-0 in the first leg match in Ikenne last Saturday.
The Algerians completed their preparations on Thursday at the Sidi Moussa National Technical Centre, the eve of the return match against Nigeria.
The return match is scheduled for this Friday at 8 p.m. at the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium in Blida. Aggregate winners will pick a ticket to the FIFA U-17 Women’s 2025 World Cup.
According to sources in Algeria, all the players took part in the final session, during which coach Abdenour Mira finalised the tactical details for the make or mar encounter.
Despite the heavy defeat conceded in the first leg (4-0), the young Algerians approach this match with the desire to finish well and deliver an honourable performance against a formidable Nigerian team.
During the technical meeting held early in the afternoon at the FAF headquarters, in the presence of representatives of the two teams and the organisers, it was decided that Algeria will play in green, while Nigeria will wear white.
The match will be officiated by Cameroonian Aline Marie Noelle Guimbang, assisted by her compatriot Laurie Marcelle Tsafack Teikeu and Chadian Victorine Ngarassoum.
The fourth official will also be Cameroonian, Innoncentia Njang Ntangti.
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WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Under possible cold weather in Blida, Nigeria’s Flamingos set to grab World Cup ticket
The weather is most likely to be cold, but Nigeria’s U17 girls, Flamingos, are set to continue a tradition of qualifying for every edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, which has had eight editions, out of which the Flamingos featured in seven.
Only Japan, with 100 per cent attendance, has featured in more competitions than Nigeria’s Flamingos.
They look poised to feature again after a 4-0 defeat of Algeria in the first leg of the final qualifying series.
Apart from their opponents, Algeria, they have the expected cold weather to battle with at the Stade Mustapha Tchaker in Blida (outside Algiers), on Friday night.
Friday’s encounter against their Algerian counterparts is the final leg of a final qualifying round fixture, with the Flamingos, bronze-medallists from the 2022 finals in India and quarterfinalists from the last edition in the Dominican Republic, holding on to a 4-0 first-leg advantage.
The Federation Algerienne de Football (FAF) has scheduled the match to kick off at 8 pm, at a time when the winds will begin to blow in stronger from the Mediterranean Sea.
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