FIFA predicts 2023 women's World Cup will be 'watershed' moment

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Apr 2023 14:51

FIFA's chief women's football officer believes that the event would be a major turning point and a driver for social change.

The FIFA trophy of the Women's FIFA World Cup seen before the announcement ceremony for the Women's FIFA World Cup 2019 at their headquarters in Zurich on March 19, 2015 (Reuters)

FIFA has predicted the women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will be a "watershed" moment that shifts the game to another level, with the target to eventually rival the men's version.

With 100 days till kick-off, FIFA's chief women's football officer Sarai Bareman told NewsCorp Australia in comments published Tuesday that more than two billion viewers were expected to tune in, double the previous tournament in France, won by the United States.

Record attendance is also predicted, with 650,000 tickets already sold. The next phase of sales opened Tuesday.

Bareman said she believed the event would be a major turning point and a driver for social change.

"People will be saying, 'That was the watershed moment that changed everything and took the game to the next level'," she said.

"And that's in every aspect -- commercially, participation, popularity and growth," the official noted.

"I think people will really look back and choose the women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand as that watershed moment where the growth, which is already exponential, just took off to the absolute next level."

Bareman said the ultimate goal was to grow the tournament to rival the men's and get females on equal footing in terms of pay.

"We know the men's World Cup is the primary source of revenue for FIFA and football, and that generates in excess of $US5 billion per edition, and that's a clear target for women's football," she said.

"We want to get to that level. The first World Cup for men was in 1930, it wasn't until 61 years later the first women's World Cup was introduced, we're still in our infancy as a product."

"But we have to look at what's happening in the men's game as an inspiration and a target, for me it's got to be in the billions and we have to keep pushing until we get to that level," Bareman stressed.

The tournament, which will take place in five Australian and four New Zealand cities, has been expanded from 24 to 32 teams for the first time.