FIFA President hails ‘transformational’ Women’s World Cup

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said that the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 has transformed the face of women's football and appealed to governments, member associations, broadcasters and media to help keep the momentum going towards equality once the tournament ends with its final in Sydney on Sunday.

Speaking at the opening of the Second FIFA Women's Football Convention, the FIFA President thanked Australia and New Zealand for co-hosting "simply the best and greatest and biggest FIFA Women's World Cup ever".

Infantino advised “this FIFA Women's World Cup has been truly transformational, not only in Australia and New Zealand but all over the world.

"In the host countries, we had almost two million spectators in the stadiums - full houses everywhere - and two billion watching all over the world - and not just watching their own country but watching the World Cup, because it’s an event (where) I don’t just watch my team.

“It's great sport, it's entertaining and people love it."

"We have to thank and congratulate Australia and New Zealand because without them this would not have been as magical."

Looking forward to future events, Federal Minister for Sport, Anika Wells noted “while this is almost the end for this Women’s World Cup, it is only the start of a new era for sport in Australia. The sleeping giant has awoken

“In Australia, this FIFA Women’s World Cup has not just changed women’s football; it has changed women’s sport. Australia is now a football country.

The FIFA President said there was still much to do and urged FIFA’s partners to contribute, adding “we need everyone. We need the UN agencies, who have been very helpful to us in this World Cup, participating with us. We need the governments, we need the institutions, to create dedicated spaces for women, and for women’s sport and women’s football in particular, of course. We need the partners, the sponsors to pay a fair price. We need the media.”

He asked broadcasters “to pay a fair price for women's football, not just for the (Women’s) World Cup, but for women's football in general, in all the countries, all the leagues, in all the competitions”.

The FIFA President urged FIFA's member associations to ensure that they organise women’s leagues, pointing out that some of the players who had starred at the tournament would not have any competitive football to go home to.

"(Female players) cannot all go to play in a few clubs in Europe or the USA. We need in the next four years to create the conditions for them to be able to play at professional level at home and this is the biggest challenge we have to take on board.”

Infantino added that the tournament's success had supported the decision to enlarge the tournament from 24 to 32 teams, going on to say "FIFA was right.

"By increasing number of teams, we had eight debutants, we had many countries who suddenly realised they had a chance to participate. Now, everyone has a chance to shine on the global stage."

Having kicked off on 20th July with the opening match at Auckland’s Eden Park setting a new record for a football match in New Zealand, 42,137, the tournament draws to a close this weekend with the third-place play-off between Australia and Sweden on Saturday (19th August) before the main event - Sunday’s final between England and Spain.

The Women’s World Cup has continued to set records throughout its duration, with FIFA announcing ahead of Tuesday’s first semi-final between Spain and Sweden that 1.77 million tickets had been sold, with attendances reaching 1,734,028 for the first 60 games.

That figure has now reached 1.85 million.”

The FIFA Women’s Football Convention continues in Sydney tomorrow.

Image: FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks at the FIFA Women’s Football Convention 2023.