The 2023 Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand kicked off today (20 June) and the opening matches between hosts Australia and New Zealand have already generated a lot of interest. The combined attendance for both matches was over 110,000.
Perhaps this popularity is a testament to the fact that this is the first Women’s World Cup to be independent of the Men’s World Cup.온라인바카라
The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be the first to stand on its own commercially as a global football mega-event. Until now, the rights and sponsorship sales for the Women’s World Cup have been bundled with the Men’s World Cup – in other words, the Women’s World Cup has been a bolt-on to the Men’s World Cup for a little extra money.
However, FIFA changed its policy after the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France saw a whopping 106% increase in global TV audiences compared to the previous event, the 2015 World Cup in Canada. In other words, FIFA was now confident that the Women’s World Cup could be successful enough to sell rights and sponsorships separately.
Members of the United States women’s national football team celebrate after scoring a goal during their Women’s World Cup Group E match against Vietnam on 22 June. The US won 3-0. /AFPBBNews=News1
FIFA’s move to separate the Women’s World Cup from the Men’s World Cup has not been without its challenges. It started with the United States, the country with the most interest in the Women’s World Cup. FIFA and the US had already bundled the rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups until 2026.
Furthermore, the European market undervalued the rights to the Women’s World Cup. European football powerhouses such as England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy paid between $100 million and $200 million per country for the rights to last year’s Men’s World Cup in Qatar. However, broadcasters in these countries paid between $1 million and $10 million for the rights to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, well below FIFA’s expectations of $12.84 billion to $12.99 billion.
As a result, FIFA was forced to enter into an agreement with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for the rights to broadcast the Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand, with terrestrial television in 34 European countries that are members of the EBU becoming the broadcasters of the Women’s World Cup.
To date, FIFA hasn’t released an approximate figure for the rights fee for the Women’s World Cup Australia-New Zealand. However, most experts believe that the rights fees were very low compared to FIFA’s initial expectations.
Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia, where the 2023 Women’s World Cup is being held. /AFPBBNews=News1
Unlike the broadcast rights, sponsorship sales for the Australia-New Zealand Women’s World Cup have been a success. The total value of sponsorship deals signed by FIFA in the run-up to the Women’s World Cup exceeded $300 million (about K38.54 billion) a year. However, most sponsors still preferred to support both the Men’s and Women’s World Cups together. The only difference from the past is that the sponsorship deals for the Men’s and Women’s World Cups are separate.
Of course, there were exceptions. In 2021, Visa became the first top-tier company ever to sponsor only the Women’s World Cup. Following Visa, New Zealand software company Xero also became a sponsor of the Women’s World Cup. Xero’s decision to exclusively sponsor the Women’s World Cup was notable because it demonstrated the company’s commitment to gender equality.
As seen in the case of Xero, FIFA expects more and more companies to support the Women’s World Cup to realise gender equality, a social value that has become increasingly important in the 21st century.
A view of the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia, where the opening match between Australia and Ireland took place on Tuesday. /AFPBBNews=News1
A key part of ensuring that the Women’s World Cup ultimately becomes a competition on par with the men’s is the prize money awarded to the participating teams.
FIFA has offered a total of $30 million in prize money for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. Compare that to the total prize money for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The total prize pool for the Men’s World Cup in Qatar was $440 million (approximately K56.32 billion).
Of course, from a commercial perspective, the Men’s World Cup is much more lucrative, but the difference in total prize money has been criticised for being too large.
As a result, FIFA has increased the total prize money for the 2023 Women’s World Cup to $110 million (KRW 141.3 billion). This is a significant increase considering that the number of participating countries has increased by eight (from 24 to 32) since the last tournament in France in 2019.
A view of the South Korea-Colombia match on the 25th. /Photo=Korea Football Association
In England, the birthplace of women’s football, the game was very popular during the First World War. This was due to the fact that most of the male players had joined the army, leaving a gap in the men’s game. At the time, women”s football matches were mainly held to raise money for charity.
However, after the end of the First World War, British society took a dim view of women”s football. The Football Association (FA) made a rule in 1921 that women footballers could not play on the grounds of men’s football clubs that were members of the FA. Since then, England’s women’s footballers have been forced to move from stadium to stadium to keep their reputation alive.
When China hosted the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991, media outlets around the world were full of excitement about how “China, a country with a tradition of forefoot (纏足 – the practice of artificially binding a young girl’s feet to prevent them from growing), was now a nation of women’s football”.
Thirty-two years on, the Women’s World Cup in 2023 is no longer a novelty, but a meaningful event that is independent of the Men’s World Cup.