The 2023 Women’s World Cup, “the biggest and best of all time”, has generated more than 570 million dollars (520 million euros), welcomed Friday the president of Fifa, Gianni Infantino. The competition co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand “exceeded $570 million in revenue, which allowed us to break even”, assured the leader from Sydney.
“We haven’t lost any money and this is the second most money making sporting event, except of course the Men’s World Cup, on the world stage,” he said. -He insists. “It shows that our strategy wasn’t too bad, but of course we still have to do a lot better. But we are on the right track, “supported the Italo-Swiss, re-elected in March for a new term running until 2027.
FIFA announced record revenues for the 2019-2022 cycle last February of some $7.6 billion, up 18% from the previous period. President Infantino defended the choice to expand the Women’s World Cup to 32 participating selections, which until then had only 24.
“They were saying: it’s not going to work, the level is too different, you will have scores of 15-0, it will be bad for women’s football and its image,” he said. “But I’m sorry, Fifa was right. We had many countries around the world who thought they had a chance to participate. Everyone now believes there is a chance to shine on the world stage,” the world football boss assured.
The ninth edition of the World Cup, “the biggest and best of all time”, according to Infantino, was marked by the emergence of new nations, such as Jamaica, Morocco and South Africa, which reached for the first time the knockout stage. Fifa has also tripled the prize money compared to the 2019 edition in France, bringing the “prize money” to a historic total of 152 million dollars (135 million euros), ten times more than for the 2015 World Cup in Canada. In Sydney on Sunday, the final will oppose Spain to England, two selections who dream of adding their names to the list.
